The election commissioner who oversaw Yeltsin's 1996 re-election now accuses the West of trying to destroy Russia and unseat Putin

Former Russian Central Elections Commissioner Nikolai Ryabov said at a conference on October 25 that “extremely trying times” await the country, as Western nations try to meddle in Russian politics. The West’s strategic goal, Ryabov said, is the total dissolution of the Russian Federation, while the tactical objective in the U.S. and Western Europe remains the ouster of President Vladimir Putin.

Ryabov made his remarks in Moscow at a conference honoring the Central Election Commission’s 25th anniversary.

Serving from September 1993 until November 1996, Ryabov was the agency’s first commissioner. He also oversaw Boris Yeltsin’s controversial re-election in July 1996. Afterwards, Ryabov served as Russia’s ambassador to the Czech Republic, Azerbaijan, and Moldova.