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Crimean Prosecutor and Anime Star Receives Promotion

Anime version of Natalia Poklonskaya. Itachi Kanade / Wikicommons

Crimea's top prosecutor and Internet sensation Natalya Poklonskaya said she had been promoted in her civil service rank, a day after Ukraine's Security Service announced placing her on a wanted list.

"I am now a 'senior counselor of justice'! Thank you for your trust," Poklonskaya said in a Twitter message on Thursday, commenting on the apparent addition of the "senior" to her rank.

The Ukrainian Security Service said in a statement on Wednesday that it had put Poklonskaya on a wanted list on charges of participation in a violent coup for supporting Russia's annexation of Crimea.

Poklonskaya, who had echoed Moscow's rhetoric by denouncing Ukraine's new administration in Kiev as a result of an "anti-constitutional coup," responded by posting her office address on her recently-made Twitter account.

"If by any chance they come looking and don't find me, tell the fools that I am [at work] every day from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.," she said in the Twitter message.

Poklonskaya, who turned 34 this month, became a viral Internet sensation and inspired anime-style fan art in Japan and in Russia, after her appearance at an emotional news conference following her appointment by Moscow as Crimea's top prosecutor.

Russian Web users often refer to her as "nyasha" — a diminutive term that is believed to be derived from "nya," a Japanese word for "meow."

Poklonskaya took issue with the cutesy names, saying that she "will not tolerate any 'nyash-nyash,'" Utro.ru reported on Wednesday.

"I want to be regarded as a prosecutor and I will achieve this through my work," she said.

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