Notorious Oligarch Berezovsky Reveals Plans for Coup in Russia

MosNews
Jan. 27, 2006

Wanted Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky has gone public with his plans to seize power in Russia by force. The London-based oligarch said in an interview with the Ekho Moskvy radio station Wednesday that he had been working on the coup plan for 18 months.

Berezovsky, a notorious critic of Putin’s regime, said he aimed to replace the “anti-constitutional regime” in Russia.

“The regime has lost its legitimacy. Neither Putin nor the parliament are legitimate. They are anti-constitutional, because they have made a number of anti-constitutional decisions, such as replacing elected governors by appointed ones. This is absolutely against the spirit and the language of the constitution.”

Today’s regime would never allow a fair election, Berezovsky added, so the only way out is a coup.

“There is only one way out — a coup, a forced seizure of power,” he said.

The oligarch said he had plenty of supporters.

“Every day I talk to lots of people who are certain the existing regime should be changed, and see there is no chance of this happening legally, by an election.

”This regime is leading Russia into an abyss. We have actually lost the North Caucasus and the influence over the post-Soviet countries.“

Berezovsky said he saw nothing unrealistic about a coup. ”In the 1980s nobody could imagine the USSR would disintegrate. Putin’s regime is way less powerful than that of the Communists. Besides, it is deprived of ideology.

“The regime is doomed, and I want to see it collapse before Russia collapses,” Berezovsky said.

The businessman is going to fund the coup with his own money, earned by honest labor, he said. He was also deliberately making his intentions public, he added.

“It is vital that the Russian people realized just talking was not enough, that it is time for action.”

As for personal security, Berezovsky said, he did not feel he was in any danger.

“My security is guaranteed by the state I live in. The UK takes care of all its residents, including the immigrants.”