A staunch Kremlin critic described as “Vladimir Putin’s number one enemy” has claimed the Russian president has stolen more than a trillion dollars from his own people. In an op-ed article published in daily MailSir William Browder reveals how Putin went from being a “political weakling” to a “monstrous dictator”. According to him, when Putin was named Boris Yeltsin’s successor in 1999, he was almost unknown outside Russian politics and even inside the country his approval ratings were low. Both the public and the elite class that controlled the economy considered him a political weakling. However, now, a quarter century later, even though he lacks charisma, no one considers him weak, Mr. Browder said.
Mr. Browder, founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, a London-based investment firm, was one of the biggest investors in Russia until 2005, when he was banned from entering the country. Since then, he has become a vocal Kremlin critic and activist and has acquired the status of “Putin’s No. 1 enemy”.
In a recent essay for daily MailMr Browder said Putin was clinging to power by waging endless wars. He called Putin “the embodiment of evil, a demonic dictator who threatens nuclear holocaust that could destroy Europe”. He also claimed that the Kremlin leader and his associates have stolen more than a trillion dollars from Russians.
Mr Browder said the number of Russians killed and injured in so-called ‘special military operations’ in Ukraine alone was approaching 800,000. He wrote, “The devastation he has inflicted on Russia for his personal gain is incalculable. The wealth he has looted is incalculable. According to a conservative estimate he and a thousand of his associates More than a trillion dollars have been stolen.”
Mr Browder called Putin “the biggest gangster of all”. He said that during his reign, he granted the oligarchs their freedom and their protection in exchange for 50% of their wealth. According to him, the Kremlin leader plundered the state treasury, stealing money from the army, income tax, education and health care budgets, infrastructure projects and all the public services that run the country. He took revenge on anyone who dared to expose his ways. “All Russians, like Putin, have become hostages of a corrupt regime, a dictatorship that exists to steal,” he said.
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According to the Kremlin critic, Putin would have to keep the country in a permanent state of siege and distraction to prevent Russians from turning against him. He said, “If he were overthrown, it would not be safe for a 72-year-old man to seek refuge anywhere in the world, despite his enormous fortune. He would be extradited back to Russia, jailed, prosecuted And he will almost certainly be hanged.”
In the article, Mr. Browder further wrote that if the West “continues to undermine Ukraine by allowing it to sign an agreement ending the conflict, it will wage war on us – through covert means such as sabotage and terrorism, through economic and, when these are not enough, by launching an armed attack on a NATO country, which would plunge us into World War III.”
He said, “The only deal Putin will accept is the complete surrender and collapse of Ukraine. The only deal Putin is interested in is one in which he takes everything away. The leaders of the West have often failed to understand this Are.”
