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.
Sounds scary.
pong
Putin isn't my favorite person but a coup isn't the way to go. Coups tend to breed later coups.
It seems a bit odd to announce a forthcoming coup in the newspapers. I don't think overthrowing Putin would be an easy job.
Putin brought this on himself.
Putin has this blowback coming.
Russia isn't stable to begin with. Pretty scary when *anything* in that country can be bought for the right price.
Aw geeze... couldn't we just have a little "putsch," instead?
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.
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.
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.
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.
Mafia PING
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.
Agreed.
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