[3] During her tenure in the Rada, she briefly served as her peninsula's Deputy Prime Minister in 2014.

A longtime pro-Russian politician, she has generated controversy for expressing anti-Ukrainian sentiment on TV.

Along with most other members of the state legislature, she refused to recognise the new government that came to power after the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution, and instead backed Crimea's incorporation into Russia.

The decision to not recognise her was made on 18 February at a meeting of the Credentials Committee,[10][11][12] because "a parliamentarian nominated to work in the PA must represent the country that makes the presentation - and not the authority that was established on foreign soil by methods that most OSCE countries recognise as illegal.

Her statement was aired live on the Russian program "Time will tell" on Channel One.