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Russia has officially announced that it is launching a criminal investigation into an exiled Kremlin critic who was accused of plotting a coup against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Getting into it: According to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Mikhail Khodorkovsky (a former Russian oligarch who was at one point the richest man in the country) is at the center of what authorities claim is a coordinated attempt to overthrow the Russian government. The investigation alleges that Khodorkovsky and 22 other exiled figures (including former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza) were involved in efforts to financially support and organize Ukrainian militant groups as part of a wider plan to remove Putin.

The charges also include accusations of forming a terrorist organization and public incitement to terrorism. Notably, all of the individuals under investigation are tied to the Russian Anti-War Committee, a group formed abroad in early 2022 shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The committee, which was banned in Russia, describes itself as a coalition of pro-democracy exiles working to oppose the war, restore the rule of law, and offer a political alternative to Putin’s regime. The FSB cites the group’s signing of the 2023 “Berlin Declaration” and its involvement in establishing a “platform for dialogue” with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe as evidence of their intention to replace Russia’s government.

Though no specific foreign country has been named as a direct participant in the alleged plot, Russian authorities have pointed to the group’s cooperation with Western political institutions (particularly European ones) as a signal of foreign influence and coordination.

Khodorkovsky, who has been living in exile in London since his 2013 release from a Siberian prison, has denied all allegations. He insists that the Anti-War Committee’s work is strictly non-violent and focused on humanitarian aid, advocacy, and building legitimacy for an eventual democratic transition. In a series of public statements, he dismissed the FSB’s claims as politically motivated fabrications, calling them “absurd” and “desperate” attempts by the Kremlin to silence criticism.

He has argued that the true reason for the investigation is the threat posed by organized Russian opposition abroad, stating that Putin is “extremely sensitive” to the emergence of alternative centers of political legitimacy, especially those gaining recognition from international bodies.