Russian tycoon places $1M bounty on 'Putin's head Dead or Alive', deletes post later

As Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine, several Russians have come forward to slam President Vladimir Putin for the same. According to international reports, a Russian businessman offered $1 million to any military officer who apprehended the Russian President "dead or alive". Alex Konanykhin, an entrepreneur and former banker, posted the offer on social media and said that Putin must be caught for committing war crimes in his invasion of Ukraine. However, Konanykhin has since deleted the post and denied placing the bounty.

Alex Konanykhin took to Facebook on Wednesday to post the bounty he placed on the Russian President. As Russian troops entered day 8 of their invasion of the neighbouring country, reports claimed that Konanykhin offered to pay $1 million to any military officer who apprehended Putin. Reports also claimed that the offer was posted with a picture of Putin that had “dead or alive” over it.

Russian businessman places bounty on Putin amid Russia Ukraine war

Konanykhin had reportedly called Putin a ‘war criminal under Russian and international laws’ and said that it was his duty to stop the Russian President. Later, he made a few other posts backing the offer as he said that his “offer is getting noticed”. In a post, which is yet to be deleted from his FB page, Konanykhin wrote, “If a thousand people chip in a million each, it'd add up to a billion.” He also added that his "bounty for Putin" offer was getting public attention from Germany as a major German publication published it. “Now, people from Germany are asking how they can chip in,” he said.

However, after the bounty posts started getting international attention, Konanykhin has now denied making any offer to assassinate the Russian President. The FB post has since been taken down, and the user has put out a new post dismissing such an offer being made. “Some reports suggest that I promised to pay for the assassination of Putin. It is NOT correct. While such an outcome would be cheered by millions of people around the world, I believe that Putin must be brought to justice,” he wrote.

Interestingly, Konanykhin’s profile picture on Facebook shows him wearing a shirt with the yellow and blue colours of the Ukrainian national flag. He has also been posting several pro-Ukraine war contents on his page and continued to mention that he will provide assistance to Ukraine in its heroic efforts to withstand the Russian invasion. He has also posted several distorted pictures of Putin, making similarities of him with Adolf Hitler.

Image: AP