Vladimir Putin loves having power.
And he loves to threaten neighbors.
Which is why he’s amassed thousands of troops on Ukraine’s eastern border, having previously illegally annexed Crimea.
Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky (remember him from Trump’s first impeachment?), held a press conference earlier today in which he announced that because of intelligence provided by the US, there is a strong possiblity that Ukraine’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov, is part of a plot to seize power in favor of Putin and cast Zelensky aside (https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-zelenskiy-coup-akhmetov-russia/).
So we asked our Moscow-based correspondent, associate solitary reporter Foma Kheroshonsky, to tell us what’s going on.
Kheroshonsky has the unusual ability to insert himself in the Kremlin whenever he likes, without being seen.
He just texted us about Putin’s latest high stakes gamble, having overheard his conversations with Sergey Shoigu, Putin’s Minister of Defence.
“Sergei, I am so glad you got Akhmetov to help us out with this putsch."
“As soon as I raise my glass of vodka, tell your troops to march straight in to Kyiv, grab Zelensky, and bring him to me in chains.”
Putin took only a few seconds to drink his favorite vodka, which is why we should expect the fall of Kyiv within a few hours.