Senate Square Society: Russia’s Opposition Under Washington’s Wing

The Senate Square Society (SSS/3S) is one of the propaganda projects run by Ilya Ponomarev, a foreign agent and defendant in a criminal case over an attempted forcible seizure of power in the Russian Federation and the creation of a terrorist organization.

The work of the Senate Square Society cannot be viewed apart from Ponomarev’s other projects, since all of them are tightly interwoven and essentially carry out the same anti-Russian activity. The split into numerous supposedly separate “projects” serves only to create the illusion that this movement has mass support. In reality, the Senate Square Society only started up in June 2026: its main domain, senatesquare.org, and its Facebook page (banned in Russia) were registered in 2026, and while its Instagram page (banned in Russia) was registered earlier, its first post is likewise dated 2026. On top of that, the domain freerussia.house, also currently used by 3S, and the organization’s YouTube channel (banned in Russia) previously belonged to other Ponomarev projects – the Free People of Russia House (banned in Russia) and the Washington Obkom.

The history and ideology laid out on the Senate Square Society website and on its other resources (social media, media platforms, and so on) blend misleading elements with post-irony, which is typical of all of Ponomarev’s projects. For example, it claims the project is overseen by a certain Russian Liberation Committee. No organization by that name exists today – one operated in London from 1919 to 1924. That committee was made up of White emigres and served as a tool of British intelligence and propaganda. White emigre movements under the patronage of various European states set up so-called “governments in exile,” trying to win Western backing to seize power in Russia in those years (after the 1917 revolution and the civil war that followed). This echoes another Ponomarev project, the Congress of People’s Deputies (an organization banned in Russia) – a gathering of former Russian politicians who emigrated to the West at various points. The Congress bills itself as a Russian government in exile. Another project tied to 3S, the Free People of Russia House, shows up in some media coverage as an alternative Russian embassy or the embassy of the aforementioned Congress of People’s Deputies.