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Saturday 1 December 2012 - 09:42

New evidence shows activists conspire with foreigners to overthrow Putin: Russia

Story Code : 216791
Ultra-left opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov gets into a vehicle as masked Interior Ministry officers take him in for questioning after the search of his home in Moscow, October 17, 2012.
Ultra-left opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov gets into a vehicle as masked Interior Ministry officers take him in for questioning after the search of his home in Moscow, October 17, 2012.
The federal Investigative Committee (SK) spokesman Vladimir Markin said on Friday that the agency had gathered new evidence confirming earlier allegations that opposition supporters had been conspiring with “foreign citizens” to overthrow the president in a coup.

Markin added the activists traveled to other countries to get training for “organizing and conducting mass riots with the purpose of overthrowing the government.”

The SK formally charged leftist opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov, Leonid Razvozzhayev and Konstantin Lebedev last month with plotting mass disorder.

    The charges were brought against them after Russia's NTV broadcast what it said was hidden-camera footage of Udaltsov meeting officials from Georgia in Minsk to discuss mounting a coup in Russia.


The three men reject the charges and claim they are an attempt to discredit the opposition. “This is the latest pile of garbage they’re trying to smear on us,” Udaltsov said on Friday.

Udaltsov has since been released from custody, but if convicted he and the others face prison sentences of between four and 10 years.

Putin has increased preventative action against street demonstrations and tightened control over foreign-backed, non-governmental organizations that Russia accuses of interfering in its current affairs.

Putin, 57, won 64 percent of the vote in the March 2012 election. He took office as president on May 7. Highlights to his political career include serving as president for two consecutive terms from 2000 to 2008 and working as prime minister from 2008 to 2012.
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