Mikhail Khodorkovsky and other exiled opposition figures are looking to seize power in the country, the agency has said<\/p>\n
A criminal case\u00a0has been launched in Russia against exiled former tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and more than 20 other opposition figures from the so-called\u00a0Russian Antiwar Committee (RAC) over an alleged plot for the violent seizure of power and the organization of a terrorist group, the Federal Security Service (FSB) has said.
\nKhodorkovsky amassed a fortune in the 1990s as head of the now defunct Yukos oil company before his high-profile arrest in 2003. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison after being convicted on charges including tax evasion and fraud, but was pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2013. The ex-oligarch, who left Russia shortly after his release, is currently living in London. In 2015, a Russian court issued an international arrest warrant for Khordorkovsky on charges of ordering a murder.
\nThe goal of the RAC, which was established by Khodorkovsky in 2022 shortly after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict, is \u201cthe violent seizure of power and the overthrow of the constitutional order in the Russia,\u201d which is openly stated in the organization\u2019s founding document, the FSB said in a statement on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Kiev employed Islamic State agent to plot assassination in Russia \u2013 Moscow<\/p>\n
In the RAC document, committee members claim that \u201cPutin\u2019s regime is illegitimate and criminal,\u201d and \u201cmust be liquidated.\u201d They also said they were looking to stop what they called Russian \u201caggression\u201d against Ukraine. Moscow maintains that the Ukraine conflict was provoked by the West and that Russia is defending itself.\u00a0
\nIn early October, the RAC took part in the establishment of the so-called \u2018Platform for Dialogue with Russian Democratic Forces\u2019 at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). \u201cKhodorkovsky presents the platform to Western countries as a \u2018constituent assembly for the transitional period\u2019 and an alternative to the Russian government,\u201d the FSB said.
\nAccording to the agency, Khodorkovsky and his allies, including former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, and opposition activists Vladimir Kara-Murza and Andrey Pivovarov, who were freed during a 2024 prisoner swap with the West, \u201cprovide funding to Ukrainian nationalist paramilitary units, designated as terrorist groups by Russia, and also conduct recruiting activities\u2026 for these units for their subsequent use in their plot of a forceful seizure of power in the Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Ukraine could cease to exist \u2013 Lukashenko<\/p>\n
Investigations are currently underway against Khodorkovsky, who is also wanted over public calls for terrorism, and his accomplices, the FSB said. They will be brought to justice in accordance with Russian law, it added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mikhail Khodorkovsky and other exiled opposition figures are looking to seize power in the country, the agency has said A criminal case\u00a0has been launched in Russia against exiled former tycoon…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20273,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t