Vyacheslav Vladimirovich Ponomarev (Russian: Вячеслав Владимирович Пономарёв; born 2 May 1965, in Sloviansk, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic) is a former owner of a soap production company[1] who in 2014 briefly achieved prominence as the self-proclaimed mayor of the city of Sloviansk, at that time a focal point at the beginning of the 2014 War in Donbas.

At a time of turbulence in Ukraine following the Euromaidan revolution, and then protests in the country's eastern Donbas, Ponomarev emerged from apparent obscurity, having owned a soap production company, declaring himself mayor after leading an assault on the Sloviansk mayor's office on 14 April 2014, as part of the 2014 pro-Russian conflict in Ukraine.

[3] Ponomarev had a fractious relationship with Igor Girkin / Strelkov, who was in charge of the military operations of the pro-Russia side in Sloviansk.

On 10 June 2014, on Girkin / Strelkov's command, Ponomarev was arrested and taken to the headquarters of the Donbass People's Militia in a former SBU building.

[9][10][11] With charges relating to misappropriation of civic funds, Ponomarev was dismissed from his duties, and Volodymyr Pavlenko was appointed a mayor of Slovyansk.