Friendship Society. On 11 June 2015, Russian president Vladimir Putin granted Poklonskaya the rank of 3rd Class State Counsellor of Justice which corresponds with the military rank of Major General. Poklonskaya resigned as Prosecutor General on 27 September 2016 due to her election as MP in the State Duma during the 2016 Russian legislative election. Prior to her resignation, she was the youngest female general in Russia, at age 36. Political career In 2015, Poklonskaya announced that she would be running as an MP in the State Duma for the United Russia party. Poklonskaya was elected during the 2016 Russian legislative election. Throughout Russia, she was sometimes considered a potential candidate at the early stages of the presidential elections in 2018. In office, Poklonskaya became notable for her defense of early 20th century Tsar Nicholas II. Considered a Saint by the Russian Orthodox Church, Nicholas II was accused in the film Matilda of having an affair with Mathilde Kschessinska. Poklonskaya defended the Tsar and called on local prosecutors to determine whether the film was religiously insensitive. Poklonskaya was accused of being the head of an unofficial "Orthodox Taliban" by Deutsche Welle. Poklonskaya has argued that Nicholas II's abdication in 1917 was legally null and void. In 2018, Poklonskaya was the only United Russia MP to vote against a government bill to raise the retirement age. She did not stand for reelection in 2021. On 13 October 2021, Poklonskaya was appointed ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Cabo Verde. She was, however, unable to take up that position, and was instead on 2 February 2022 appointed to be the deputy chief of Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation (commonly known as Rossotrudnichestvo) after completing a master's degree in international relations. In April 2022, the Moscow Times reported that Poklonskaya has labelled the 2022 Russia invasion of Ukraine as a "catastrophe." In a video address to an international forum she said, "People are dying, houses and entire cities are destroyed [leaving] millions of refugees. Bodies and souls are mutilated. My heart is bursting with pain. My two native countries are killing each other, that's not what I wanted and it's not what I want." Also in April 2022, she had told a popular YouTube blogger that Ukraine's society has "changed" in the eight years since the