An exiled Kremlin critic, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, has been accused by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) of creating a “terrorist organisation” and of plotting to violently seize power.

The FSB said it had opened a criminal case against Khodorkovsky and was investigating more than 20 people as part of the same charge. These include prominent dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza, former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, ex-prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov and leading economists Sergey Aleksashenko and Sergei Guriev.

It comes just two weeks after a “platform for dialogue” with Russian democratic forces in exile was announced by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, a human rights forum of lawmakers from 46 European countries.

The FSB claimed Khodorkovsky was presenting this platform as a replacement for Russian leadership. He was also accused of funding Ukrainian paramilitary units in order to use them to try to eventually seize power.

Khodorkovsky rejects accusations Khodorkovsky denied the accusations and called the criminal case a sign that the Kremlin sees the Council of Europe initiative as “a major problem”.

“Hence the new cases about ‘seizing power’, the lies about ‘recruiting’ and ‘arming the Ukrainian military’,” he said on Telegram.

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