Alex Konanykhin, A Russian Businessman And Banker, Has Offered A $1M Bounty On Vladimir Putin

A Russian businessman, entrepreneur and banker named Alex Konanykhin has offered $1 million dollars to anyone who will arrest President Vladimir Putin under pretenses of international law.

Amid the escalating Russia-Ukraine conflict, the people of Russia and their economy has been affected in many devasting ways. That's not even to mention the loss of life and property occurring across the border in Ukraine and elsewhere. All of this inspired wealthy Russian businessman Alex Konanykhin to make a Facebook post attaching a photoshopped "Dead or Alive" poster with Putin's headshot on it.

In the now-deleted post, Konanykhin urged any elected officer or officers to arrest Putin as a "war criminal," following the standards of international law. He went on to write that Putin, "is not the Russian president," referencing how he came to power because of a special operation that blew up an apartment building. Konanykhin cited this as evidence that he is an international criminal, one not worthy of the Russian people who have abided by him for too long.

Although the Facebook post was deleted, it was reuploaded to Reddit's /r/Damnthatsinteresting on Tuesday, earning roughly 84,800 upvotes in two days.

The story spread to Twitter yesterday, where more internet users became aware of the development. One Twitter user provided a screenshot of a follow-up post from Konanykhin, who addressed the deletion of his original post. According to him, it was banned by Facebook, mostly for the "Dead or Alive" poster that incited violence. Of course, it wasn't removed by the Russian government, mostly because Konanykhin now lives in California and was granted asylum in 1999.

pic.twitter.com/Wm6yI09w8N

— Padre_ski (@padre_ski) March 2, 2022

For those wondering, This is real and the bounty is in American dollars as that's where he has been living for many years now. pic.twitter.com/ITFLAYqV7v

— XRBishop (@XKateBishopX) March 2, 2022

Memes about Konanykhin's bounty appeared on Reddit in the days following his offer. Most likened the scenario to Hustle Culture memes or captioned dramatic screenshots like ones from Marvel movies with appropriate captions relating to Putin's arrest. The imagined hero of these subsequent memes would collect the million-dollar bounty in full and be praised for his actions.

Maybe this, but with vodka? pic.twitter.com/y6T12pEqZq

— Rudolph the Red knows rain, dear! (@liefkoffie) March 2, 2022

Finally! Been tryn to reach them for a while…#Ukraine pic.twitter.com/dhoNEerAQo

— Helen Aasa (@helenaasa) March 2, 2022

Whether or not anything comes from this, it does highlight an interesting viewpoint that's being portrayed by native Russians.