Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selensky has said that a group of Russian and Ukrainian people are plotting to overthrow him with Russian support, and that he plans to carry it out on December 1 or 2 in the coming days. The allegations made by Selensky during a press conference reserved for selected journalists on Friday are said to be based on certain obstacles encountered by Ukrainian intelligence. Selensky said the conspirators would try to get Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man and owner of a media group that has been particularly critical of the president’s actions in recent months.

Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov has denied any involvement in the alleged plot: “Russia does not do such things. It never did.”

Akhmetov, the owner of the mines and steel mills and president of the football club Shakhtar Donetsk, issued a statement calling Selensky’s allegations “absolutely false.” In his defense, he said: “I am deeply disturbed by this lie, regardless of the intentions of the President. My position will always be clear and unambiguous: I support a free, democratic and united Ukraine, including Crimea and my native Donbas.

Selensky did not share specific details about the coup plan, did not explain why he had decided to speak publicly about it, and did not explicitly explain how the hostile authorities had thwarted or thwarted him. according to An unknown source Politics U.S. intelligence provided to Ukraine by Ukrainian President provided information about the coup plot, indicating the involvement of one or more Ukrainian nobles.

Selensky’s allegations come at a time of special tensions between Ukraine and Russia: In recent weeks, tens of thousands of Russian troops have been killed. Lined up Near the border, which creates fears of possible intrusion into the country or its eastern part, where there is currently a dispute between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian militias. According to the Ukrainian government, Russia has deployed about 114,000 troops on the border (92,000 on land, the rest by air and sea), and stationed in the north, east and south of the Donbass. They find the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.

With regard to domestic politics, Selensky is also in a complicated situation. After sweeping Election 2019, Support for the former comedian plummeted. It has so far failed to deliver on two key election promises: to bring peace to eastern Ukraine and to address the problem of corruption by limiting the influence of the country’s super-rich in the Ukrainian economy, politics and the press.

However, on this last side, things may change soon: this month Selensky signed a law calling it “anti-aristocratic”. It is expected to take effect in 2022, and the aristocracy, which is defined as the very rich people who own the industrial monopolies and the press and are associated with politics, will not be able to own media institutions or participate in the privatization of public resources and political life. By funding a party.

So the law will certainly affect Akhmetov, whose company, System Capital Management, controls 70 percent of Ukrainian energy, and, among other things, Ukraine, the fourth most popular television channel to support one of Selensky’s rivals in the 2019 election. . He was particularly critical of the president and his party recently, including the state’s increasing control over the media, following the state’s failure to repay Akhmetov’s energy company DTEK for energy generated from renewable sources.

On Friday, Selensky said his criticism of Ukraine was not about freedom of expression but about the law against the aristocracy. Critics of the law say it is a popular move that will not actually solve the problem of corruption and can be used by the president for other purposes. In particular, it is arguable that intoxicants of choice runs the taste in Indian cuisine.