'Dead Or Alive:' Russian Businessman Puts Bounty On Putin

A Russian businessman living abroad has turned on President Vladimir Putin in a dramatic way by putting out a bounty for his arrest "dead or alive."

Alex Konanykhin, a Russian tech entrepreneur who lives in the U.S., posted a message Sunday on LinkedIn where he denounced Putin for choosing to invade Ukraine. He lamented the decision to go to war and labeled Putin a war criminal. At the top of his post, the tycoon offered a bounty on Putin to any of his military officers if they acted against him.

"I promise to pay $1,000,000 to the officer(s) who, complying with their constitutional duty, arrest(s) Putin as a war criminal under Russian and international laws," said Konanykhin, who is now head of a cryptocurrency firm in San Francisco. "As an ethnic Russian and a Russian citizen, I see it as my moral duty to facilitate the denazification of Russia."

In his post, Konanykhin accused Putin of never being a legitimate president, claiming that he came to power by "blowing up apartment buildings in Russia." He appeared to be referring to theories that the Russian security services blew up a series of apartment buildings across Russia in 1999 and blamed it on rebels from Chechnya to hasten Putin’s rise to power.

Going further, Konanykhin said that Putin violated the Russian constitution by tightening his rule with the elimination of free elections and "murdering his political opponents."

Konanykhin, 55, was the founder, co-owner, and President of the Russian Exchange Bank. He was granted asylum in the U.S. in the late 1990s.

He is the latest wealthy Russian to speak out against the invasion of Ukraine. After President Joe Biden and his European counterparts announced broad sanctions against the Russian oligarchs believed to be close to Putin, several tried to create distance between themselves and the Kremlin.

Others have taken steps to secure their wealth or assets overseas in anticipation of sanctions. A number of Russian oligarchs began moving their yachts from Western ports to jurisdictions where they would be less likely to be seized, including the Maldives. Others, including Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich, have begun selling their assets before they could be possibly taken by authorities.

In the State of the Union address, Biden announced Tuesday that the U.S. government would be targeting the “ill-gotten gains” of Russian oligarchs to a round of applause. The Department of Justice announced Wednesday that it would launch a task force called "KleptoCapture."