Kyiv, November 27
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has claimed that his country’s intelligence service has uncovered plans for a Russia-backed coup d’etat in the country set for next week that allegedly involves one of Ukraine’s richest oligarchs.
Both the oligarch and the Russian government rejected the allegations. In Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he is spending a holiday weekend, US President Joe Biden expressed concern at the coup talk and renewed US support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and self-government. At a news conference in Kyiv Friday, 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’s richest oligarch, Rinat Akhmetov.
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 USD7.5 billion.
Zelenskyy refused to disclose further details about the alleged coup, saying only that he doesn’t plan to flee the country.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the allegations in comments to journalists in Moscow on Friday.
“Russia had no plans to get involved,” Peskov said. “Russia never does such things at all.” Akhmetov called Zelenskyy’s allegations “an absolute lie.” — AP
Malicious US propaganda: russia spy chief
Moscow: Russia has no plans to invade Ukraine and suggestions to the contrary are malicious US propaganda, Moscow’s foreign intelligence chief said on Saturday. “I need to reassure everyone. Nothing like this is going to happen,” Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia’s foreign intelligence agency, said. Reuters
(The article is generated from The Tribune via feeds, The Chenab Times staff didn’t wrote this news.)
The Chenab Times News Desk