The Russian website Holos Pravdy published a news item claiming that the German newspaper Frankfurter Rundshau reported that Julia Tymoshenko was leading coup in Kyiv. “The odious Julia Tymoshenko, who has lately not been in the spotlight is planning to usurp power in Ukraine” claims Holos Pravdy, citing the Frankfurter Rundschau.
Other Russian sites such as Ukraina.ru and Vesti.ru published even more menacing headlines such as “Tymoshenko preparing to snatch power”, “The woman with the braid is taking advantage of chaos in Ukraine”.( This headline plays on the Russian word for braid, kosa, which also means scythe. In Russian the headline could also mean the woman with the scythe.)
The actual headline in the Frankfurter Rundschau reads as follows: Julia Tymoshenko wants to return to power (Julia Timoschenko will zurück an die Macht).
The sentence that the Russian sites have distorted says absolutely nothing about a putsch or coup: Having gotten rich in the gas business, Tymoshenko is again ready to fight for power.
