Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky: President says a group of Russians and Ukrainians are planning a coup against him

At a press conference in Kiev on Friday, the president said he had received intelligence, which included rumors, that the coup is scheduled for the first or second of December.

Zelensky said there was sound of Ukrainian and Russian plotters discussing the plan. Ukraine’s president said the alleged plotters also mentioned the name of one of Ukraine’s richest men, Rinat Akhmetov.

Zelensky claimed that Akhmetov – the owner of the Ukrainian financial and industrial holding company, System Capital Management (SCM) – was “drawn into the war against the state of Ukraine” by people around him, but he did not explain what he meant or provide evidence in support of his claims.

Zelensky said he has invited Akhmetov to his office to talk about the alleged plot.

The Ukrainian president noted that, unlike his predecessors Viktor Yanukovych and Petro Poroshenko, “he will not run anywhere,” but will invite all the people involved to find out about this in his office.

Zelensky stressed that this was an attempt to destabilize the country. “I do not think society wants it. The country does not want it. The people who want it are the ones who have lost power,” Zelesnky said.

Akhmetov dismissed Zelensky’s comments as an “absolute lie”.

In a statement to CNN, shared by his firm System Capital Management, Akhmetov said he was “outraged at the spread of this lie.”

“The information that Volodymyr Zelensky has published about attempts to drag me into some kind of coup is an absolute lie. I am outraged at the spread of this lie, whatever the motives of the president.

“As a Ukrainian citizen, the country’s largest investor, taxpayer and employer, I will continue to defend a free Ukraine, a free economy, democracy and freedom of expression. I will do everything I can to prevent authoritarianism and censorship in Ukraine,” he said. added.

The Kremlin rejected Zelensky’s claim that Russia is involved in planning a coup in Ukraine. “Russia never had any plans to participate. In general, Russia is never engaged in that kind of thing,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a news conference with reporters on Friday.

Boundary maneuvers

For weeks, Western officials have expressed growing concern about Moscow’s military activity at the Ukrainian border – with the United States considering sanctions if Russia invades Ukraine.

“We do not know what President [Vladimir] Putin’s intentions are, but we know what has happened in the past, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said during a trip to Senegal last week, referring to Russian military intervention, recognized or not, in neighboring countries.

The head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Agency, Brigadier General Kyrylo Budanov, told the US defense newspaper Military Times that Russia was increasing troop levels and weapon systems in Crimea to an offensive that could come at any time.

The Kremlin has repeatedly said that Russia has no plans to invade Ukraine and accuses Western countries of “hysteria”.

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