Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Putin threatened with coup
Herald Sun ^ | 25 January 2006

Posted on 01/24/2006 4:00:36 PM PST by Aussie Dasher

RUSSIAN billionaire Boris Berezovsky has never made any secret of his loathing for President Vladimir Putin, but in an interview in his London exile the controversial tycoon went one step further with a vow to mount a coup.

"President Putin violates the constitution and any violent action on the opposition's part is justified today, and that includes taking power by force, which is exactly what I am working at," the oligarch, looking vibrant despite five years in self-imposed exile, said at his Piccadilly office.

For the past 18 months, "we have been preparing to take power by force in Russia", he said, claiming he would finance this with a fortune that had "tripled" over the past five years.

The disgraced eminence grise of Russia's former president Boris Yeltsin and one-time media baron fled Russia in 2000 after Mr Putin's rise to power, saying charges of large-scale fraud against him were politically motivated.

He successfully fought off extradition attempts and in 2003 was granted political asylum in Britain.

Mr Berezovsky said Mr Putin had wrecked the country's post-Soviet constitution.

"The Kremlin has demolished Russian federalism, particularly through the law on appointing governors" for the regions, a law the parliament adopted in late 2004, he said.

This reform abolished election of regional chiefs by popular vote and sparked biting criticism in Russia and concerns abroad that Russia's leadership has taken an authoritarian course.

"Everything that will be done to reestablish the Russian constitution will be constitutional by definition and that will happen before 2008," the year of the next presidential elections, he said.

However, a coup, he said, could only be mounted by "one elite against another in power".

"I do not rely on one elite only, military, media, business or secret services - rather on each and all, not excluding even an alliance with former enemies," he said.

Mr Berezovsky's Civil Liberties Foundation recently acknowledged having donated $US21 million ($27.9 million) to sources close to Viktor Yushchenko, the opposition candidate who led the "orange revolution" and then was elected Ukraine's president over a pro-Russian rival.


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: coup; dictatorship; outhegoes; putin; rasputin2; russia
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 121-134 next last
Sounds interesting...
1 posted on 01/24/2006 4:00:38 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Aussie Dasher

Sounds scary.


2 posted on 01/24/2006 4:02:12 PM PST by mlc9852
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AdmSmith

pong


3 posted on 01/24/2006 4:04:21 PM PST by nuconvert (No More Axis of Evil by Christmas ! TLR) [there's a lot of bad people in the pistachio business])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Aussie Dasher

Putin isn't my favorite person but a coup isn't the way to go. Coups tend to breed later coups.


4 posted on 01/24/2006 4:05:20 PM PST by cripplecreek (Never a minigun handy when you need one.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Aussie Dasher

It seems a bit odd to announce a forthcoming coup in the newspapers. I don't think overthrowing Putin would be an easy job.


5 posted on 01/24/2006 4:06:02 PM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #6 Removed by Moderator

To: Aussie Dasher

Putin brought this on himself.


7 posted on 01/24/2006 4:08:28 PM PST by DoNotDivide (Romans 12:21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: cripplecreek

Putin has this blowback coming.


8 posted on 01/24/2006 4:08:46 PM PST by Dog ( Ayman al-Zawahiri .....Sleeps with the fish's.....enjoy those raisins.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Aussie Dasher

Russia isn't stable to begin with. Pretty scary when *anything* in that country can be bought for the right price.


9 posted on 01/24/2006 4:08:47 PM PST by miliantnutcase
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Aussie Dasher; Dog Gone

Aw geeze... couldn't we just have a little "putsch," instead?


10 posted on 01/24/2006 4:10:33 PM PST by SierraWasp (GovernMental EnvironMentalism... America's establishment of it's unconstitutional State Religion!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Aussie Dasher

I would think that Putin would be within his rights to seize any and all assets of this guy and his associates, and terminate him/them with prejudice. If I were in his shoes, it would already been ordered.


11 posted on 01/24/2006 4:16:33 PM PST by jeremiah (People wake up, the water is getting hot)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ring of Truthiness
LMAO

12 posted on 01/24/2006 4:16:54 PM PST by meanie monster (http://guptonator.myvideochat.net)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: SierraWasp

I don't know who this guy is, but I wouldn't like to take my chances with a coup coming out okay.

Putin is far too authoritarian, however his country never made the transistion to transparent democracy. To the extent that authoritarian rule is necessary to disband the oligarchy that infests Russian politics and business, I'm okay with that.

The question is whether that oligarchy is actually an ally of Putin. I don't know the answer to that, and that in itself is worrisome.


13 posted on 01/24/2006 4:19:40 PM PST by Dog Gone
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Dog
Putin has this blowback coming.

What blowback? Putin has support of majority of Russians. Support for Berezovsky is maybe 1% or 2%. The chance of Berezovsky staging a coup against Putin is similar to chance of Meyer Lansky staging a coup against FDR.

14 posted on 01/24/2006 4:20:30 PM PST by A. Pole (Dr. Michael Savage is in and the diagnosis is clear: "Liberalism is a Mental Disorder")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Cicero
Ordinarily it would be odd to announce a coup in the paper but if you are afraid of being assassinated anyway who cares.
This guy could be the real thing.
But the truth is Russians must be stuck on stupid to elect a kgb guy "President" and then complain later that he has become a "dictator", surprise surprise.
15 posted on 01/24/2006 4:24:30 PM PST by rodguy911 (Support the New Media and fr.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: cripplecreek

Yeah its an interesting geopolitical question, isn't it? Do we hope that a coup doesn't happen, because instability in Russia is worse than the current trend towards despotism? Or do we hope for a coup on the theory that a destabilized Russia would be less troubelsome on the world stage.

Course the downside is (1) all those loose nukes and (2) we really don't wish the evils of disorder on the poor Russian people.


16 posted on 01/24/2006 4:25:25 PM PST by happyathome
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: nw_arizona_granny

Mafia PING


17 posted on 01/24/2006 4:26:38 PM PST by DAVEY CROCKETT (I can't stay on topic!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: A. Pole

I would trust Meyer Lansky or Michael Corleone more than I'd ever trust Berezovsky, a former school teacher who "somehow" obtained a car monopoly and "somehow" made himself into a billionaire. He has NO support in Russia.


18 posted on 01/24/2006 4:27:30 PM PST by laconic
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: mlc9852; Aussie Dasher
Sounds boring. Whoever comes to power there will continue on the same old treadmill ad nauseam. Samuel Huntington called these extremely resilient things civilizational identities [or cultural mentalities]. Hence one would do well to remember that "there is always a derriere in the chair". And whose derriere it is, is important only to the particular lickers of these particular derrieres and to the derrieres' proud owners.
19 posted on 01/24/2006 4:29:28 PM PST by GSlob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: A. Pole
What blowback? Putin has support of majority of Russians. Support for Berezovsky is maybe 1% or 2%. The chance of Berezovsky staging a coup against Putin is similar to chance of Meyer Lansky staging a coup against FDR.

Agreed.

20 posted on 01/24/2006 4:29:42 PM PST by SevenMinusOne
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 121-134 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson