Leonid Razvozzhayev, an aide to Russian opposition figure Sergei Udaltsov, has confessed to organizing mass disorder together with his boss and other opposition members, and said the effort was bankrolled by Georgian politician Givi Targamadze, the Investigative Committee said on Monday.
Razvozzhayev, on a federal wanted list, has turned himself in to the law, committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said.
All of what Razvozzhayev has said “will be thoroughly investigated,” Markin added.
Razvozzhayev, as well as Udaltsov and his other aide, Konstantin Lebedev, face up to 10 years in prison on charges of conspiring to organize mass disorder.
The charges are based on Anatomy of a Protest 2, the second installment of a documentary on the Russian opposition aired by NTV, a privately-owned but fiercely pro-Kremlin television channel.
The film, aired on October 5, claims that Udaltsov and his supporters planned to stage mass riots and a coup using funding from the Georgian leadership, which is at odds with the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The documentary comes complete with footage of Udaltsov’s alleged meeting with a Georgian representative to discuss plans for the rebellion.
Targamadze, the head of the Georgian parliament’s defense and security committee and a close ally of President Mikheil Saakashvili, has slammed the documentary, calling it “propaganda.” He also said he had never met Udaltsov.
The NTV documentary said Targamadze had helped organize the “color revolutions” that swept opposition leaders into power in Georgia and Ukraine in the 2000s amid mass protests over election rigging allegations.