Russia's lower house of parliament today voted to dismiss the only lawmaker who opposed Moscow's annexation of Crimea over his extended absence from the legislative body.

Ilya Ponomaryov, a regular at opposition meetings who has lived in the United States since 2014, has been accused of complicity in the embezzlement of $750,000 from the Skolkovo Foundation, a high-tech project the Kremlin had hoped would be its answer to Silicon Valley.

The opposition has dismissed the charges as politically motivated. Today, 413 lawmkers voted in favor of stripping Ponomaryov of his seat in the legislature.

Only three State Duma deputies voted against the proposal, opposition lawmaker Dmitry Gudkov wrote on his Facebook page.

Flamboyant lawmaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who heads a nationalist party, in parliament accused Ponomaryov of spreading 'nasty anti-Russian propaganda,' TASS news agency reported.