[Camerota:] Moments ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin wrapped up a three-plus hour press conference in which he made a surprising comment, saying his decision whether to run for reelection will depend on the country's economic situation. Right now, the economy is in a downward spiral, but he assured Russians it will bounce back. Let's bring in Ilya Ponomarev. He's a Russian opposition politician who's a member of the State Duma. That's Russia's legislative body. Mr. Ponomarev, nice to see you again.
[Ilya Ponomarev, Member Of Russian State Duma:] Good morning.
[Camerota:] Just to give viewers a context of who you are, you have never been in lockstep with Putin nor have you been in lockstep with the Duma, the legislative body on which you sit. In fact, you were the only State Duma member in March to vote against the annexation of Crimea. Since that time, your bank accounts have been frozen and you have been virtually exiled. So what is it like to watch what's happening in Russia and the economic crisis now for you?
[Ponomarev:] I really feel sorry for my country and especially there are a lot of people whom I am working with and who we're working with during reset policies that were implemented by Russia and the United States and the reorganization of the economy that was introduced by Medvedev. All of those people right now sits here in Silicon Valley or in Boston or New York. They virtually, all of them, left Russia and that's really feels me sorry.
[Camerota:] Like we said, President Putin just wrapped up a three-plus hour press conference. He made some headlines, particularly talking about the economy. He says that Russian growth is inevitable so people don't need to worry so much. He finished on a very cheery note. He said we will get through this period. It's not easy, of course, but we'll strengthen our position in the world economy. The most important thing is to ensure social prosperity of people despite the cuts in the budget and we can do that. We absolutely can. What do you think of his optimism?
[Ponomarev:] I totally share his optimism. For sure, we will do all of that. But I am afraid we will be doing this without him.
[Camerota:] What do you mean?
[Ponomarev:] I mean that, with the current policy that has been implemented, the economy would not bounce back under his leadership. And people were very much hoping that he would give at least some answers how he would overcome the economic crisis of today. Who is responsible for the downfall of the ruble? Does he feel sorry for what was have been done and for the policies that actually led to this economic crisis? Because it's all artificial. It was not supposed to happen just beginning of this year. And he felt like no, I am OK. I'm not at fault. None of my people are at fault. Central bank and the government is doing OK. All my people, you know, are doing the right things. And it would have happened even without Crimea, even without invasion in Ukraine. That's just a general logic of confrontation of the West with Russia.
[Camerota:] And yet, Putin's public opinion poll numbers continue to be remarkably high. Here is a poll taken by the Associated Press. This was just earlier this month, so already when the economy was slipping, 81 percent of Russians believe in Putin. And that is compared to 2012 when it was just 58 percent. How do you explain his tremendous poll numbers despite this crisis?
[Ponomarev:] People do not believe in Putin. People believe in certain policies that are being implemented right now. People believe that we indeed is at war with the west, that America is trying to crush Russia, that America is trying to crush Ukraine and that we are protecting our brother Ukrainians from America's aggression. That's what our TV is telling Russians and that's why they support Putin, who is the commander-in-chief and who is leading the resistance to the Western aggression. But time will pass and it will be not so long time, and then people will say OK, so maybe we were mistaken, maybe it was the wrong message, maybe the guy who is propagating the message is actually trying to cheat us.
[Camerota:] So, very quickly, Mr. Ponomarev, yes or no do you think Putin survives this?
[Ponomarev:] Of course not. It just will take him a year and a half, two years, and then he would be gone.
[Camerota:] Ilya Ponomarev, nice to see you again. Thank you for sharing your personal thoughts on this.
[Ponomarev:] Thanks for having me.
[Camerota:] OK, let's go back to Chris in Miami.
[Cuomo:] What an interesting discussion you just had, Alisyn. Thank you very much for that. So the situation here, you have a stalemate that had lasted 50 years. Right now the sudden and certainly historic thaw between the U.S. and Cuba. A big player here we're all talking about President Obama what about Pope Francis? He and the Vatican played a very big part. Much of what just happened in Cuba and the U.S. started in Rome. We'll tell about it.