Kremlin calls in top Russian protest leader for questioning
Experts say that the Kremlin's probe into Sergei Udaltsov – launched after a documentary accused him of trying to undermine the government – is meant to discredit him and other protest leaders.
Russian opposition leader Sergey Udaltsov speaks at a protest rally in Moscow, in this Sept. 15 file photo.
Mikhail Metzel/AP/File
Moscow
Russian left-wing leader Sergei Udaltsov has been summoned for "questioning" by the Kremlin's powerful Investigative Committee on Wednesday, after a murky documentary film broadcast Friday on the state-run NTV network accused him of plotting to overthrow President Vladimir Putin using funds provided by a Georgian parliamentarian and anti-Putin business exiles in London.
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Mr. Udaltsov predicted on his blog Saturday that the film was part of a Kremlin plan to charge him with treason, based on a new law that's working its way through the Russian State Duma that would redefine treason to include almost any political activist who works with foreigners against Russian national security interests as defined by the authorities.
"The existence of any instances of financing from Western intelligence and... of 'coup attempts' would lead toward the opening of highly publicized criminal cases against me," Udaltsov, a veteran left-wing street protester, wrote.
On Monday, the State Investigative Committee summoned Udaltsov to appear and explain the accusations made in the film, after receiving a letter from the deputy chairman of the Federation Council, Russia's Kremlin-appointed upper house of parliament, requesting it to do so.
The makers of the documentary film, "Anatomy of a Protest 2," are not named in the credits, but most experts say it was almost certainly made using surveillance footage of Udaltsov gathered by the FSB security service.
The grainy and shadowy film shows someone who resembles Givi Targamadze, chairman of Georgia’s parliamentary committee for defense and security and a close ally of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, talking in a smoke-filled room with a usually-obscured profile of someone who looks like Udaltsov. The Mr. Targamadze figure suggests a range of wild schemes, including seizing Russia's Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad, activating Chechen rebels to commit terrorist acts in Moscow, and doing "something" to disrupt Mr. Putin's 60th birthday jubilee (which passed peacefully on Sunday).
More substantially, Targamadze appeared to be offering Udaltsov financing of $50 million for protest activities, which would be contributed by disgraced Russian banker Andrei Borodin and other anti-Putin exiles living in London.
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