A U.S.-based Russian businessman is providing $1 million to any army officer who apprehends Russian President Vladimir Putin "lifeless or alive" for committing conflict crimes in his invasion of Ukraine.
Alex Konanykhin, an entrepreneur and former banker, posted the bounty on social media as Russia enters a full week of army motion in opposition to the neighboring nation. Western governments and firms have responded to the invasion by in search of to economically punish Putin and Russia's ruling elite. The bounty provided by Konanykhin, who's now based mostly within the U.S., locations an much more direct goal on the Russian chief as backlash over the invasion continues to escalate.
Konanykhin stated in a Fb submit Tuesday that he promised to pay the officer or officers the cash for arresting "Putin as a conflict legal below Russian and worldwide legal guidelines."
"As an ethnic Russian and a Russia citizen, I see it as my ethical responsibility to facilitate the denazification of Russia," Konanykhin stated within the submit. Putin has sought to justify his invasion of Ukraine by saying Russian forces would "denazify" the nation, an evidence that has been dismissed by Western powers.
Konanykhin, whose profile image exhibits him carrying a shirt with the yellow and blue colours of the Ukrainian nationwide flag, stated in his submit that he would proceed his "help to Ukraine in its heroic efforts to face up to the onslaught of Putin's Orda." "Orda" means "horde" in Russian.
An earlier model of Konanykhin's submit on LinkedIn included a photograph of Putin with the phrases "Needed: Useless or alive. Vladimir Putin for mass homicide," in accordance with The Jerusalem Submit.The submit seems to have been taken down.
Konanykhin, who made his fortune and rose to prominence after the collapse of the Soviet Union, stated in his submit that Putin got here to energy "as the results of a particular operation of blowing up condominium buildings in Russia, then violated the Structure by eliminating free elections and murdering his opponents."
Earlier within the invasion, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Russian army forces marked him and his household as high targets throughout a televised deal with final week.
"The enemy marked me as goal primary, and my household as goal quantity two," Zelensky stated final week.
Konanykhin's point out of condominium buildings seemed to be a reference to a conspiracy idea over who was behind lethal 1999 bombings blamed by Russian authorities on the time on Chechen militants.
Konanykhin later wrote on Fb that it was unsuitable to say that he had promised to pay for the assassination of Putin.
"Whereas such an consequence can be cheered by thousands and thousands of individuals world wide, I consider that Putin have to be delivered to justice," he posted.
Konanykhin had began greater than 100 firms by the age of 25, following the autumn of communism in Russia, in accordance with a 1996 article in The Washington Submit.
He fled to the USA within the Nineties and was granted asylum in 1999. His asylum was revoked 4 years later and he confronted the specter of deportation to Russia earlier than the choice was overturned.
In accordance with his web site, Konanykhin is at present based mostly in New York Metropolis and is the CEO of TransparentBusiness, a digital work platform. It says he's additionally a panelist on the truth tv present "Unicorn Hunters" alongside Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.
Newsweek has reached out to Konanykhin and Russian authorities for remark.
Replace 3/3/22, 8:16 a.m. ET: This text was up to date with further info.
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