{"id":63614,"date":"2021-11-28T17:16:29","date_gmt":"2021-11-28T17:16:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/11\/28\/ukraine-leader-alleges-russia-backed-coup-planned-next-week\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T12:11:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T12:11:32","slug":"ukraine-leader-alleges-russia-backed-coup-planned-next-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/flashpoints\/2021\/11\/28\/ukraine-leader-alleges-russia-backed-coup-planned-next-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine leader alleges Russia-backed coup planned next week"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KYIV, Ukraine \u2014 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday claimed that his country\u2019s intelligence service has uncovered plans for a Russia-backed coup d\u2019etat in the country set for next week that allegedly involves one of Ukraine\u2019s richest oligarchs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both the oligarch and the Russian government rejected the allegations. In Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he is spending a holiday weekend, U.S. President Joe Biden<\/a> expressed concern at the coup talk and renewed U.S. support for Ukraine\u2019s sovereignty and self-government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a news conference in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, Zelenskyy said he received information that a coup was being planned for next Wednesday or Thursday. He did not give many details to back up his allegation, but pointed to a suspected role of Ukraine\u2019s richest oligarch, Rinat Akhmetov.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president said that Ukrainian intelligence has audio recordings of an alleged meeting between Russian and Ukrainian officials discussing a plan for a coup allegedly funded by Akhmetov, whose fortune is estimated at $7.5 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zelenskyy refused to disclose further details about the alleged coup, saying only that he doesn\u2019t plan to flee the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the allegations in comments to journalists in Moscow on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRussia had no plans to get involved,\u201d Peskov said. \u201cRussia never does such things at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Akhmetov called Zelenskyy\u2019s allegations \u201can absolute lie.\u201d \u201cI am outraged by the spread of this lie, no matter what the President\u2019s motives are,\u201d Akhmetov said in a statement, relayed to the Associated Press by his spokeswoman Anna Terekhova.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked about the alleged coup plans, the U.S. State Department\u2019s top official for European and Eurasian affairs, Karen Donfried, said: \u201cWe are in touch with the Ukrainian government to discuss this further, and we\u2019re working to obtain additional information.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden told U.S. reporters he expected to talk to Putin and Zelenskyy, \u201cin all probability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volodymyr Fesenko, a Kyiv-based political analyst and head of the Penta Center think tank, told the AP that Zelenskyy targeted Akhmetov after a \u201cproper information war\u201d was waged against the president over the last two months on TV channels the oligarch owns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A mass protest in front of the president\u2019s office is also being planned for Dec. 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The analyst pointed to great discontent among Ukrainian oligarchs, including Akhmetov, over a law pushed by Zelenskyy that limits their influence on politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fesenko called Zelenskyy\u2019s reference to Akhmetov in connection with the alleged coup \u201ca pre-emptive signal\u201d for the oligarch not to get in involved in \u201crisky political ventures, cross the \u2018red lines\u2019 and negotiate with Moscow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t