Boris Berezovsky (businessman)
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Boris Abramovich Berezovsky (russian: link=no, Борис Абрамович Березовский; 23 January 1946 – 23 March 2013), also known as Platon Elenin, was a Russian business oligarch, government official, engineer and mathematician and a member of the
Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across ...
. Berezovsky made his fortune in Russia in the 1990s, when the country implemented
privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
of state property. He profited from gaining control over assets, including the country's main television channel, Channel One. In 1997, ''Forbes'' estimated Berezovsky's wealth at US$3 billion. Berezovsky helped fund
Unity Unity may refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England * Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; ...
, the political party that would form
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
's first parliamentary base, and was elected to the
Duma A duma (russian: дума) is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were for ...
on Putin's slate in the
1999 Russian legislative election Legislative election were held in Russia on 19 December 1999 to elect the 450 seats in the State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1642 Like in the p ...
. However, following the Russian presidential election in March 2000, Berezovsky went into opposition and resigned from the Duma. Berezovsky would remain a vocal critic of Putin for the rest of his life. In late 2000, after the Russian Deputy Prosecutor General demanded that Berezovsky appear for questioning, he did not return from abroad and moved to the UK, which granted him
political asylum The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another ent ...
in 2003. After he moved to Britain, the Russian government took over his television assets, and he divested from other Russian holdings. In Russia, Berezovsky was later convicted ''in absentia'' of fraud and embezzlement. The first charges had been brought during Primakov's government in 1999. Despite an
Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...
Red Notice An Interpol notice is an international alert circulated by Interpol to communicate information about crimes, criminals, and threats by police in a member state (or an authorised international entity) to their counterparts around the world. The in ...
for Berezovsky's arrest, Russia repeatedly failed to obtain the extradition of Berezovsky from Britain; the situation became a major point of diplomatic tension between the two countries. In 2012, Berezovsky lost a London High Court case he brought over the ownership of the major oil producer
Sibneft Gazprom Neft (russian: Газпром Нефть; formerly Sibneft, russian: Сибнефть, link=no), is the third largest oil producer in Russia and ranked third according to refining throughput. It is a subsidiary of Gazprom, which owns about ...
, against
Roman Abramovich Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich (, ; he, רומן ארקדיביץ' אברמוביץ'; born 24 October 1966) is a Russian oligarch and politician. He is the former owner of Chelsea, a Premier League football club in London, England, and is the ...
, in which he sought over £3 billion in damages. The court concluded that Berezovsky had never been a co-owner of Sibneft. Berezovsky was found dead in his home, Titness Park, at Sunninghill, near Ascot in Berkshire, on 23 March 2013. A
post-mortem An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any di ...
examination found that his death was consistent with hanging and that there were no signs of a violent struggle. However, the coroner at the inquest into Berezovsky's death later recorded an
open verdict The open verdict is an option open to a coroner's jury at an inquest in the legal system of England and Wales. The verdict means the jury confirms the death is suspicious, but is unable to reach any other verdicts open to them. Mortality studies c ...
.


Early life, scientific research and engineering experience

Boris Abramovich Berezovsky was born in 1946, in Moscow, to Abram Markovich Berezovsky (1911–1979), a
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
civil engineer in construction works, and his wife, Anna Aleksandrovna Gelman (22 November 1923 – 3 September 2013). He studied
applied mathematics Applied mathematics is the application of mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a combination of mathemati ...
, receiving his doctorate in 1983. After graduating from the Moscow Forestry Engineering Institute in 1968, Berezovsky worked as an engineer from 1969 till 1987, serving as assistant research officer, research officer and finally the head of a department in the Institute of Control Sciences of the
USSR Academy of Sciences The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...
. Berezovsky conducted research on
optimization Mathematical optimization (alternatively spelled ''optimisation'') or mathematical programming is the selection of a best element, with regard to some criterion, from some set of available alternatives. It is generally divided into two subfi ...
and
control theory Control theory is a field of mathematics that deals with the control of dynamical systems in engineered processes and machines. The objective is to develop a model or algorithm governing the application of system inputs to drive the system to a ...
, publishing 16 books and articles between 1975 and 1989.


Political and business career in Russia


Accumulation of wealth

In 1989, Berezovsky took advantage of the opportunities presented by perestroika to found LogoVAZ with
Badri Patarkatsishvili Arkady Shalvovich "Badri" Patarkatsishvili ( ka, ბადრი პატარკაციშვილი 31 October 1955 – 12 February 2008) was a Jewish-Georgian businessman who also became extensively involved in politics. He contested th ...
and senior managers from Russian automobile manufacturer
AvtoVAZ AvtoVAZ ( rus, АвтоВАЗ, p=ɐftoˈvas) is a Russian automobile manufacturing company owned by the state. It was formerly named as VAZ ( rus, ВАЗ), an acronym for Volga Automotive Plant in Russian (russian: Во́лжский автомо ...
. LogoVAZ developed software for AvtoVAZ, sold Soviet-made cars and serviced foreign cars. The dealership profited from
hyperinflation In economics, hyperinflation is a very high and typically accelerating inflation. It quickly erodes the real value of the local currency, as the prices of all goods increase. This causes people to minimize their holdings in that currency as t ...
by taking cars on consignment and paying the producer at a later date when the money lost much of its value. One of Berezovsky's early endeavors was All-Russia Automobile Alliance (AVVA), a venture fund he formed in 1993 with
Alexander Voloshin Alexander Stalyevich Voloshin (russian: link=no, Александр Стальевич Волóшин; born 3 March 1956, Moscow) is a Russian politician who briefly was chairman of the board of directors of RAO UES, the former Russian state p ...
(Boris Yeltsin's future Chief of Staff) and
AvtoVAZ AvtoVAZ ( rus, АвтоВАЗ, p=ɐftoˈvas) is a Russian automobile manufacturing company owned by the state. It was formerly named as VAZ ( rus, ВАЗ), an acronym for Volga Automotive Plant in Russian (russian: Во́лжский автомо ...
Chairman Vladimir Kadannikov. Berezovsky controlled about 30% of the company, which raised nearly US$50 million from small investors through a bonded loan to build a plant producing a "people's car". The project did not collect sufficient funds for the plant and the funds were instead invested into AvtoVAZ production, while the debt to investors was swapped for equity. By 2000, AVVA held about one-third of AvtoVAZ. In 1994, Berezovsky was the target of a car bombing incident, but survived the assassination attempt, in which his driver was killed and he himself was injured.
Alexander Litvinenko Alexander Valterovich "Sasha" Litvinenko (30 August 1962 ( at WebCite) or 4 December 1962 – 23 November 2006) was a British-naturalised Russian defector and former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) who specialised ...
led the FSB investigation into the incident and linked the crime to the resistance of the Soviet-era AvtoVaz management to Berezovsky's growing influence in the Russian automobile market. Berezovsky's involvement in the Russian media began in December 1994, when he gained control over ORT Television (see Channel One (Russia)) to replace the failing Soviet Channel 1. He appointed the popular anchorman and producer
Vladislav Listyev Vladislav (Vlad) Nikolayevich Listyev (russian: Владисла́в Никола́евич Листьев, links=no; May 10, 1956 – March 1, 1995) was a Russian journalist and head of the ORT TV Channel (now government-owned Channel One). Ca ...
as CEO of ORT. Three months later Listyev was assassinated amid a fierce struggle for control of advertising sales. Berezovsky was questioned in the police investigation, among many others, but the killers were never found. Under Berezovsky's stewardship, ORT became a major asset of the reformist camp as they prepared to face Communists and nationalists in the upcoming
presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pr ...
. From 1995 to 1997, through the controversial loans-for-shares privatisation auctions, Berezovsky and Patarkatsishvili assisted
Roman Abramovich Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich (, ; he, רומן ארקדיביץ' אברמוביץ'; born 24 October 1966) is a Russian oligarch and politician. He is the former owner of Chelsea, a Premier League football club in London, England, and is the ...
in acquiring control of
Sibneft Gazprom Neft (russian: Газпром Нефть; formerly Sibneft, russian: Сибнефть, link=no), is the third largest oil producer in Russia and ranked third according to refining throughput. It is a subsidiary of Gazprom, which owns about ...
, the sixth-largest Russian oil company, which constituted the bulk of his wealth. In an article in ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' in 2000, Berezovsky revealed that financier
George Soros George Soros ( name written in eastern order), (born György Schwartz, August 12, 1930) is a Hungarian-American businessman and philanthropist. , he had a net worth of US$8.6 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated mo ...
declined an invitation to participate in the acquisition. In 1995, he played a key role in a management reshuffle at Aeroflot and participated in its corporatization, with his close associate
Nikolai Glushkov Nikolay Alekseevich Glushkov (russian: Николай Алексеевич Глушков; 24 December 1949 – 12 March 2018) was a Russian businessman who was the deputy director of Aeroflot and a finance manager for AvtoVAZ who died in ...
becoming Aeroflot's CFO. In January 1998, it was announced that
Sibneft Gazprom Neft (russian: Газпром Нефть; formerly Sibneft, russian: Сибнефть, link=no), is the third largest oil producer in Russia and ranked third according to refining throughput. It is a subsidiary of Gazprom, which owns about ...
would merge with Mikhail Khodorkovsky's
Yukos OJSC "Yukos Oil Company" (russian: ОАО Нефтяна́я Компа́ния Ю́КОС, links=no, ) was an oil and gas company based in Moscow, Russia. Yukos was acquired from the Russian government by Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkov ...
to create the third-largest oil company in the world. The merger was abandoned five months later amid falling oil prices.


Role in Yeltsin's reelection in 1996

Berezovsky entered the Kremlin's inner circle in 1993 through arranging for the publication of Yeltsin's memoirs and befriended
Valentin Yumashev Valentin Borisovich Yumashev (russian: link=no, Валентин Борисович Юмашев; born 15 December 1957) is a Russian journalist, politician and businessman-developer, who is the son-in-law of former President Boris Yeltsin and ...
, the President's ghost-writer. In January 1996, at the
World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...
at Davos, Berezovsky liaised with fellow oligarchs to form an alliance – which later became known as the "Davos Pact" – to bankroll Boris Yeltsin's campaign in the upcoming
presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pr ...
. On his return to Moscow, Berezovsky met and befriended
Tatyana Dyachenko Tatyana Borisovna Yumasheva (russian: link=no, Татьяна Борисовна Юмашева, formerly Dyachenko, Дьяченко, née Yeltsina, Ельцина; born 17 January 1960) is the younger daughter of former Russian President Bori ...
, Yeltsin's daughter, According to a later profile by ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', "Berezovsky masterminded the 1996 re-election of Boris Yeltsin... He and his billionaire friends coughed up £140 million for Yeltsin's campaign". In the summer of 1996, Berezovsky had emerged as a key advisor to Yeltsin, allied with
Anatoly Chubais Anatoly Borisovich Chubais (russian: Анатолий Борисович Чубайс; born 16 June 1955) is a Russian politician and economist who was responsible for privatization in Russia as an influential member of Boris Yeltsin's administ ...
, opposing a group of hardliners led by General
Alexander Korzhakov Alexander Vasilyevich Korzhakov (russian: Александр Васильевич Коржаков; born 31 January 1950) is a Russian former KGB general who served as Boris Yeltsin's bodyguard, confidant, and adviser for eleven years. He was ...
. One night in June, in the drawing room of Club Logovaz, Berezovsky, Chubais and others plotted the ouster of Korzhakov and other hardliners. On 20 June 1996, Yeltsin fired Korzhakov and two other hawks, leaving the reformers' team in full control of the Kremlin. Firing them was controversial though, as Korzhakov a few days before caught two of Yeltsin's campaign organizers carrying US$500,000 cash without invoices out of the presidential administration building. On 16 June 1996, Yeltsin came first in the first round of elections after forging a tactical alliance with Gen.
Alexander Lebed Lieutenant General Alexander Ivanovich Lebed (russian: Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Ле́бедь, link=no; 20 April 1950 – 28 April 2002) was a Soviet and Russian military officer and politician who held senior positions in the Ai ...
, who finished third. On 3 July, in the runoff vote, he beat the Communist
Gennady Zyuganov Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov (russian: Генна́дий Андре́евич Зюга́нов; born 26 June 1944) is a Russian politician, who has been the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and served as M ...
. His victory was due largely to the support of the TV networks controlled by Gusinsky and Berezovsky (NTV and ORT) and the money from the business elite. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' called Berezovsky the "public spokesman and chief lobbyist for this new elite, which moved from the shadows to respectability in a few short years".


Role in Chechen conflict

On 17 October 1996, Yeltsin dismissed General
Alexander Lebed Lieutenant General Alexander Ivanovich Lebed (russian: Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Ле́бедь, link=no; 20 April 1950 – 28 April 2002) was a Soviet and Russian military officer and politician who held senior positions in the Ai ...
from the position of National Security Advisor amid allegations that he was plotting a coup and secretly mustering a private army. Lebed promptly accused Berezovsky and Gusinsky of engineering his ouster, and formed a coalition with the disgraced General
Alexander Korzhakov Alexander Vasilyevich Korzhakov (russian: Александр Васильевич Коржаков; born 31 January 1950) is a Russian former KGB general who served as Boris Yeltsin's bodyguard, confidant, and adviser for eleven years. He was ...
. The dismissal of Lebed, the architect of the Khasavyurt peace accord, left Yeltsin's Chechen policy in limbo. On 30 October 1996, in a political bombshell, Yeltsin named
Ivan Rybkin Ivan Petrovich Rybkin (; born 20 October 1946) is a Russian politician. He was Chairman of Russia's State Duma in 1994–96 and Secretary of the Security Council in 1996–98. He ran for the Russian presidency in 2004, before dropping out after ...
as his new National Security Advisor and appointed Berezovsky Deputy Secretary in charge of Chechnya with a mandate to oversee the implementation of the
Khasavyurt Accord Khasavyurt Accord ( ce, Хаси-Эвлан Барт, russian: Хасавюртовские соглашения) was an agreement that marked the end of the First Chechen War, signed in Khasavyurt in Dagestan on 30 August 1996 between Alexander L ...
: that is, the withdrawal of Russian forces, the negotiation of a peace treaty, and the preparation of a general election. On 19 December 1996, Berezovsky made headlines by negotiating the release of 21 Russian policeman held hostage by the warlord Salman Raduev amid efforts by radicals from both sides to torpedo peace negotiations. On 12 May 1997, Yeltsin and Maskhadov signed the Russian–Chechen Peace Treaty in the Kremlin. Speaking at a press conference in Moscow, Berezovsky outlined his priorities for the
economic reconstruction Economic reconstruction is a process for creating a proactive vision of economic change. The most basic idea is that problems in the economy, such as deindustrialization, environmental decay, outsourcing, industrial incompetence, poverty and ...
of Chechnya, particularly the construction of a pipeline for transporting Azerbaijani oil. He called upon the Russian business community to contribute to the rebuilding of the republic, revealing his own donation of US$1 million (some sources mention US$2 million) for a cement factory in Grozny. This payment would come to haunt him years later, when he was accused of funding Chechen terrorists. After his dismissal from the Security Council, Berezovsky vowed to continue his activities in Chechnya as a private individual and maintained contact with Chechen warlords. He was instrumental in the release of 69 hostages, including two Britons, Jon James and Camilla Carr, whom he flew in his private jet to
RAF Brize Norton Royal Air Force Brize Norton or RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, about west north-west of London, is the largest station of the Royal Air Force. It is close to the village of Brize Norton, and the towns of Carterton and Witney. The statio ...
in September 1998. In an interview with
Thomas de Waal Thomas Patrick Lowndes de Waal (born 1966) is a British journalist and writer on the Caucasus. He is a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe. He is best known for his 2003 book '' Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War''. Lif ...
in 2005, he revealed the involvement of the British Ambassador to Russia, Sir Andrew Wood, and explained that his former negotiations counterpart, the Islamic militant leader
Movladi Udugov Movladi Saidarbievich Udugov ( ce, Мовла́ди Саидарби́евич Уду́гов; born February 9, 1962 in Germenchuk, Shalinsky District, Chechnya into the Shirdi teip) was the former First Deputy Prime Minister of the Chechen R ...
, helped arrange the Britons' release."Berezovsky Blames Putin For Chechen War"
IWPR Report, 25 February 2005
Berezovsky had a phone conversation with
Movladi Udugov Movladi Saidarbievich Udugov ( ce, Мовла́ди Саидарби́евич Уду́гов; born February 9, 1962 in Germenchuk, Shalinsky District, Chechnya into the Shirdi teip) was the former First Deputy Prime Minister of the Chechen R ...
in the spring of 1999, six months before the beginning of fighting in Dagestan. A transcript of that conversation was leaked to a Moscow tabloid on 10 September 1999 and appeared to mention the would-be militants' invasion. It has been the subject of much speculation ever since. As Berezovsky explained later in interviews to de Waal and Goldfarb, Udugov proposed to coordinate the Islamists' incursion into Dagestan, so that a limited Russian response would topple the Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov and establish a new Islamic republic, which would be anti-American but friendly to Russia. Berezovsky said that he disliked the idea but reported Udugov's overture to prime-minister Stepashin. "Udugov and Basayev," he asserted, "conspired with Stepashin and Putin to provoke a war to topple Maskhadov ... but the agreement was for the Russian army to stop at the
Terek River The Terek (; , Tiyrk; , Tərč; , ; , ; , ''Terk''; , ; , ) is a major river in the Northern Caucasus. It originates in the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region of Georgia and flows through North Caucasus region of Russia into the Caspian Sea. It rise ...
. However, Putin double-crossed the Chechens and started an all-out war."


Battle with "Young Reformers"

In March 1997, Berezovsky and
Tatyana Dyachenko Tatyana Borisovna Yumasheva (russian: link=no, Татьяна Борисовна Юмашева, formerly Dyachenko, Дьяченко, née Yeltsina, Ельцина; born 17 January 1960) is the younger daughter of former Russian President Bori ...
flew to
Nizhniy Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...
to persuade the city's governor, Boris Nemtsov, to join Chubais' economic team, which became known as the government of Young Reformers. This was the last concerted political action of the "Davos Pact" (see above). Four months later the group split into two cliques fiercely competing for Yeltsin's favour. The clash was precipitated by the privatization auction of the communication utility
Svyazinvest OJSC Svyazinvest ( Russian: ОАО Связьинвест) was Russia's largest telecommunications holding company. Based in Moscow, it was founded according to Order №1297 of the Russian government on November 25, 1994, and was registered on Se ...
, in which Onexim bank of Chubais' loyalist
Vladimir Potanin Vladimir Olegovich Potanin (russian: Владимир Олегович Потанин; born 3 January 1961) is a Russian billionaire businessman. He acquired his wealth notably through the controversial loans-for-shares program in Russia in ...
, backed by George Soros, competed with Gusinsky, allied with Spanish
Telefónica Telefónica, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world. It provides fixed and mobile telephony, broadba ...
. An initially commercial dispute swiftly developed into a contest of political wills between Chubais and Berezovsky. Potanin's victory unleashed a bitter media war, in which ORT and
NTV NTV may refer to: Television * NTV (Bangladesh), a Bengali-language satellite television channel in Bangladesh * NTV (India), Telugu regional channel * NTV (Kenya) * NTV (Mongolia), a television channel based in Mongolia * NTV (Newport Televis ...
accused the Chubais group of fixing the auction in favor of Potanin, whereas Chubais charged Berezovsky with abusing his government position to advance his business interests. Both sides appealed to Yeltsin, who had proclaimed a new era of "fair" privatization "based on strict legislative rules and allowing no deviations". In the end, both sides lost. Berezovsky's media revealed a corrupt scheme whereby a publishing house owned by Onexim Bank paid Chubais and his group hefty advances for a book that was never written. The scandal led to a purge of Chubais' loyalists from the government. Chubais retaliated by persuading Yeltsin to dismiss Boris Berezovsky from the national security council. Berezovsky's service on the Security Council ended on 5 November 1997. Soros called the Berezovsky-Chubais clash a "historical event, in the reality of which I would have never believed, if I had not watched it myself. I saw a fight of the people in the boat floating towards the edge of a waterfall". He argued that the reformist camp never recovered from the wounds sustained in this struggle, setting the political stage for conservative nationalists, and eventually
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
.


Philanthropy

In 1991, Berezovsky founded the "Triumph" award, bestowed upon outstanding Russian poets, musicians, artists, directors and ballet dancers. It is reported in the documentary series Captive that Boris Berezovsky, in 1998, was effective in the release of two English aid workers who had been held hostage for ransom in Chechnya for 14 months


The Kremlin Family and Putin's rise to power

In the spring of 1998, Berezovsky made an unexpected political comeback, starting with his appointment, in April 1998, to the position of executive secretary of the
Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an area of and has an estimated population of 239,796,010. ...
. He emerged in the centre of a new informal power group – the "Family", a close-knit circle of advisers around Yeltsin, which included Yeltsin's daughter
Tatyana Tatiana (or Tatianna, also romanized as Tatyana, Tatjana, Tatijana, etc.) is a female name of Sabine-Roman origin that became widespread in Eastern Europe. Variations * be, Тацця́на, Tatsiana * bg, Татяна, Tatyana * germ ...
and his chief of staff, Yumashev. It was rumoured that no important government appointment could happen without the Family's support. By 1999, the Family also included two of Berezovsky's associates, his former AVVA partner Alexander Voloshin, who replaced Yumashev as Yeltsin's chief of staff, and Roman Abramovich. The principal concern of the Family was finding an "electable" successor to Yeltsin to counter the presidential aspirations of the then prime minister,
Yevgeny Primakov Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov (29 October 1929 – 26 June 2015) was a Russian politician and diplomat who served as Prime Minister of Russia from 1998 to 1999. During his long career, he also served as Foreign Minister, Speaker of the Supreme ...
, who was leaning to more statist positions. Political battles between the Family and Primakov's camp dominated the two last years of Yeltsin's presidency."Putin's Path to Power"
Post-Soviet Affairs (Bellwether Publishing, Ltd.) vol. 16, no. 4, December 2000
In November 1998, in a televised press conference, five officers of the FSB, led by Lieutenant Colonel
Alexander Litvinenko Alexander Valterovich "Sasha" Litvinenko (30 August 1962 ( at WebCite) or 4 December 1962 – 23 November 2006) was a British-naturalised Russian defector and former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) who specialised ...
, revealed an alleged plot by their superiors to assassinate Berezovsky. In April 1999, Russia's Prosecutor General,
Yury Skuratov Yury Ilyich Skuratov (russian: Ю́рий Ильи́ч Скура́тов; born 3 July 1952) is a Russian jurist and politician. Skuratov was born in Ulan-Ude. From 1995 until 1999, he was Prosecutor General of Russia. In February 1999, he di ...
, opened an investigation into embezzlement at Aeroflot and issued an arrest warrant for Berezovsky, who called the investigation politically motivated and orchestrated by Primakov.
Nikolai Glushkov Nikolay Alekseevich Glushkov (russian: Николай Алексеевич Глушков; 24 December 1949 – 12 March 2018) was a Russian businessman who was the deputy director of Aeroflot and a finance manager for AvtoVAZ who died in ...
, Aeroflot's former General Director, later revealed that conflict with Primakov arose from the irritation that Berezovsky's management team caused in the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, which Primakov headed before becoming prime minister, over firing of thousands of spies, who used Aeroflot as a front organization in Soviet times. The arrest warrant was dropped a week later, after Berezovsky submitted to questioning by the prosecutors. No charges were brought. Yeltsin sacked Primakov's government shortly thereafter and replaced him with
Sergey Stepashin Sergei Vadimovich Stepashin (russian: Сергей Вадимович Степашин; born 2 March 1952) is a Russian politician who briefly served as Prime Minister of Russia in 1999. Prior to this he had been appointed as federal security m ...
as new prime-minister. Vyacheslav Animov (russian: Вячеслав Аминов) supported Berezovsky and headed Berezovsky's security service.
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
's meteoric rise from relative obscurity to the Russian presidency in the course of a few short months of 1999 has been attributed to his intimacy with the "Family" as a protege of Berezovsky and Yumashev. By the end of 1999, the Family had persuaded Yeltsin to name Putin his political successor and candidate for the presidency. Berezovsky's acquaintance with Putin dated back to the early 1990s, when the latter, as Deputy Mayor of St. Petersburg, helped Logovaz establish a car dealership. They enjoyed friendly relations; on occasion, Berezovsky took Putin skiing with him in Switzerland. In February 1999, when Berezovsky's political standing looked uncertain because of his clash with Primakov over Aeroflot, Putin, then Director of the FSB, made a bold gesture of friendship by showing up at a birthday party for Berezovsky's wife. "I absolutely do not care what Primakov thinks of me", Putin told Berezovsky on that night. That was the beginning of their political alliance. According to the Times, Spanish police discovered that on up to five occasions in 1999, Putin had secretly visited a villa in Spain belonging to Berezovsky. In mid-July 1999, the Family dispatched Berezovsky to Biarritz, where Putin was vacationing, to persuade him to accept the position of prime minister and the role of
heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...
. On 9 August, Yeltsin sacked the government of Sergei Stepashin and appointed Putin prime minister, amid reports that Berezovsky had masterminded the reshuffle. Putin's principal opponents were the former Prime Minister Evgeny Primakov and the Mayor of Moscow
Yuri Luzhkov Yuri may refer to: People and fictional characters Given name *Yuri (Slavic name), the Slavic masculine form of the given name George, including a list of people with the given name Yuri, Yury, etc. * Yuri (Japanese name), also Yūri, feminine Ja ...
, backed by the Fatherland-All Russia alliance. To counter this group in the Duma elections of 1999, Berezovsky was instrumental in the creation, within the space of a few months, of the
Unity Unity may refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England * Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; ...
party, with no ideology other than its support for Putin."Russia Vote Returns Tycoon to Spotlight"
''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', 23 December 1999
Later, he disclosed that the source of Unity's funding, with Putin's knowledge and consent, was Aeroflot. In the 1999 election, Berezovsky campaigned as a Putin loyalist and won a seat in the Duma, representing the North Caucasian republic of Karachaevo-Cherkessia. During the Duma election campaign Berezovsky's ORT TV served as an extremely effective propaganda machine for the Putin camp, using aggressive attack reporting and programming to denigrate and ridicule Putin's rivals, Primakov and Luzhkov, tactics strongly criticized as undue interference with the media. But
Unity Unity may refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England * Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; ...
got a surprisingly high score in the elections, paving the way for Putin's election victory in spring 2000.


Conflict with Putin and emigration

Berezovsky's disagreements with Putin became public three weeks into Putin's presidency. On 8 May 2000, Berezovsky and Abramovich were spotted together at Putin's invitation-only inauguration ball in Moscow. However, on 31 May, Berezovsky sharply attacked the constitutional reform proposed by the president, which would give the Kremlin the right to dismiss elected governors. On 17 July 2000, Berezovsky resigned from the Duma, saying he "did not want to be involved in the country's ruin and the restoration of an authoritarian regime". In August, Berezovsky's media attacked Putin for the way he handled the sinking of the ''Kursk'' submarine, blaming the death of 118 sailors on the Kremlin's reluctance to accept foreign help. In September, Berezovsky alleged that the Kremlin had attempted to expropriate his shares in ORT and announced that he would put his stake into a trust to be controlled by prominent intellectuals. In an article in ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' in 2000, Berezovsky argued that in the absence of a strong
civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Com ...
it may sometimes be necessary for capitalists "to interfere directly in the political process" of Russia as a counterweight to ex-Communists "who hate democracy and dream of regaining lost positions." Berezovsky took legal action against the journalist
Paul Klebnikov Paul Klebnikov (russian: Павел Юрьевич Хлебников, translit=Pavel Yurievich Khlebnikov; June 3, 1963  – July 9, 2004) was an American journalist and historian of Russia. He worked for ''Forbes'' magazine for more than ...
, who accused him of various crimes. In October, in an interview in ''
Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of r ...
'', Putin announced that he would no longer tolerate criticism of the government by media controlled by the oligarchs. "If necessary we will destroy those instruments that allow this blackmail", he declared. (originally published in ''
Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of r ...
'', 26 October 2000)
Responding to a question about Berezovsky, he warned that he had a "cudgel" in store for him. "The state has a cudgel in its hands that you use to hit just once, but on the head. We haven't used this
cudgel A club (also known as a cudgel, baton, bludgeon, truncheon, cosh, nightstick, or impact weapon) is a short staff or stick, usually made of wood, wielded as a weapon since prehistoric times. There are several examples of blunt-force trauma caused ...
yet. We've just brandished it... utthe day we get really angry, we won't hesitate to use it." In the same month, Russian prosecutors revived the Aeroflot fraud investigation and Berezovsky was questioned as a witness. On 7 November 2000, Berezovsky, who was travelling abroad, failed to appear for further questioning and announced that he would not return to Russia because of what he described as "constantly intensifying pressure on me by the authorities and President Putin personally. Essentially," he said, "I'm being forced to choose whether to become a political prisoner or a political emigrant." Berezovsky claimed that Putin had made him a suspect in the Aeroflot case simply because ORT had "spoken the truth" about the sinking of the submarine Kursk. In early December, his associate
Nikolai Glushkov Nikolay Alekseevich Glushkov (russian: Николай Алексеевич Глушков; 24 December 1949 – 12 March 2018) was a Russian businessman who was the deputy director of Aeroflot and a finance manager for AvtoVAZ who died in ...
was arrested in Moscow and Berezovsky dropped the proposal to put ORT stake in trust.


Divestment from Russian holdings

In 2001, the Russian government made a systematic takeover of privately owned television networks, in the course of which Berezovsky, Gusinsky and Patarkatsishvili lost most of their media holdings,"Silencing Critics of the Kremlin"
Editorial, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', 23 January 2002
prompting one of them to warn of Russia "turning into a banana republic" in a letter to ''The New York Times''. In February, Berezovsky and Patarkatsishvili sold their stake in ORT to Roman Abramovich, who promptly ceded editorial control to the Kremlin. Berezovsky later claimed that there was a secret understanding that
Nikolai Glushkov Nikolay Alekseevich Glushkov (russian: Николай Алексеевич Глушков; 24 December 1949 – 12 March 2018) was a Russian businessman who was the deputy director of Aeroflot and a finance manager for AvtoVAZ who died in ...
would be released from prison as part of that deal, a promise that was never fulfilled. In April, the government took control of
Vladimir Gusinsky Vladimir Aleksandrovich Gusinsky (russian: Владимир Александрович Гусинский, ; born 6 October 1952) is a Russian media tycoon. He founded the Media-Most holding company that included the NTV free-to-air channel, ...
's
NTV NTV may refer to: Television * NTV (Bangladesh), a Bengali-language satellite television channel in Bangladesh * NTV (India), Telugu regional channel * NTV (Kenya) * NTV (Mongolia), a television channel based in Mongolia * NTV (Newport Televis ...
. Berezovsky then moved to acquire a controlling stake in a smaller network, TV-6, made Patarkatsishvili its Chairman, and offered employment to hundreds of locked out NTV journalists. Almost immediately, Patarkatshishvili became a target of police investigation and fled the country. In January 2002 a Russian arbitration court forced TV-6 (Russia) into liquidation. The liquidation of TV-6 was precipitated by LUKoil, a partly state-owned minority shareholder, using a piece of legislation that was almost immediately repealed. In 2001, Berezovsky and Patarkatsishvili ended their involvement in
Sibneft Gazprom Neft (russian: Газпром Нефть; formerly Sibneft, russian: Сибнефть, link=no), is the third largest oil producer in Russia and ranked third according to refining throughput. It is a subsidiary of Gazprom, which owns about ...
for a US$1.3 billion fee from
Roman Abramovich Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich (, ; he, רומן ארקדיביץ' אברמוביץ'; born 24 October 1966) is a Russian oligarch and politician. He is the former owner of Chelsea, a Premier League football club in London, England, and is the ...
. This transaction was the subject of a later dispute in the UK commercial courts, with Berezovsky alleging that he had been put under pressure to sell his stake to Abramovich at a fraction of the true value, an allegation that the court rejected. In 2006, Berezovsky sold the ''
Kommersant ''Kommersant'' (russian: Коммерсантъ, , ''The Businessman'' or Commerce Man, often shortened to Ъ) is a nationally distributed daily newspaper published in Russia mostly devoted to politics and business. The TNS Media and NRS Russia ...
'' ("The Businessman") newspaper and his remaining Russian assets.


Exile in Britain

From his new home in the UK, Stanley House, where he and associates including
Akhmed Zakayev Akhmed Halidovich Zakayev ( ce, Заки Хьалид кlант Ахьмад, Zaki Halid-khant Ahmad; russian: Ахмед Халидович Закаев, Akhmed Khalidovich Zakayev; born 26 April 1959) is a former Deputy Prime Minister and Pri ...
,
Alexander Litvinenko Alexander Valterovich "Sasha" Litvinenko (30 August 1962 ( at WebCite) or 4 December 1962 – 23 November 2006) was a British-naturalised Russian defector and former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) who specialised ...
and Alex Goldfarb became known as "the London Circle" of Russian exiles, Berezovsky publicly stated that he was on a mission to bring down Putin "by force" or by bloodless revolution.Profile: Boris Berezovsky
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
, 31 May 2007
He established the International Foundation for Civil Liberties, to "support the abused and the vulnerable in society – prisoners, national minorities and business people" in Russia and criticized Putin's record in the West. Berezovsky launched a concerted campaign to expose alleged misdeeds of Vladimir Putin, from suppressing freedom of speech"Russian critics blast Putin's record"
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
, 23 September 2003
to committing war crimes in Chechnya. He also accused Russia's FSB security service of staging the Moscow apartment bombings of 1999 in order to help Putin win the presidency. Many of these activities were funded through the New York-based International Foundation for Civil Liberties directed by Berezovsky's friend Alex Goldfarb. Berezovsky bought a
Belgravia Belgravia () is a district in Central London, covering parts of the areas of both the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Belgravia was known as the 'Five Fields' during the Tudor Period, and became a dang ...
flat, the 125-acre Wentworth Park estate near
Virginia Water Virginia Water is a commuter village in the Borough of Runnymede in northern Surrey, England. It is home to the Wentworth Estate and the Wentworth Club. The area has much woodland and occupies a large minority of the Runnymede district. Its n ...
in Surrey, and for a while owned the 172-acre Hascombe Court estate in Godalming. In 2012, he sold his Wentworth Park house.


Political asylum and extradition proceedings

On 9 September 2003, Berezovsky was granted refugee status and political asylum by the British Home Office which he, according to Alex Goldfarb (the head of the New York-based ''Foundation for Civil Liberties'' funded by Berezovsky) welcomed. On 12 September 2003, judge
Timothy Workman Senior District Judge Timothy Henry Workman is a British retired judge, a long-term stipendiary magistrate who served as Senior District Judge ( Chief Magistrate) for England and Wales. From 1967 to 1969, Workman was a probation officer in ...
of
Bow Street Magistrates' Court Bow Street Magistrates' Court became one of the most famous magistrates' court in England. Over its 266-year existence it occupied various buildings on Bow Street in Central London, immediately north-east of Covent Garden. It closed in 2006 a ...
in central London dropped extradition proceedings against Berezovsky, ruling that it would be pointless to pursue the case as the granting of asylum status to Berezovsky made the proceedings redundant. However, when Berezovsky told
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...
in early February 2006 that he was working on plans to overthrow Russian President Vladimir Putin, British Foreign Minister
Jack Straw John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretary ...
warned the London-based Russian tycoon not to plot against the Russian President while living in Britain. His refugee status could be reviewed if he continued to make such remarks.


Convictions ''in absentia'' and investigations abroad

After Berezovsky gained political asylum in Britain, the Russian authorities vigorously pursued various criminal charges against him. This culminated in two trials ''in absentia''. From London, Berezovsky called the trial, which sentenced him to six years in prison, "a farce". In June 2009, the Krasnogorsk City Court near Moscow sentenced Berezovsky to thirteen years imprisonment for defrauding AvtoVAZ of 58 million rubles (US$1.9 million) in the 1990s. Berezovsky was represented by a court-appointed lawyer. In spite of Berezovsky's successes in Britain in fighting off extradition requests and exposing Russian court convictions as politically motivated (see below), some other jurisdictions cooperated with Russian authorities in seizing his property and targeting his financial transactions as money laundering. Berezovsky succeeded in overturning some of these actions. In July 2007, Brazilian prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Berezovsky in connection with his investment in the Brazilian football club
Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...
. However, a year later the Brazilian Supreme Court cancelled the order and stopped the investigation. On Russian requests, French authorities raided his villa in Nice in search of documents, and seized his two yachts parked on the French Riviera. However, some months later, the boats were released by a French court. Swiss prosecutors have been assisting their Russian colleagues for over a decade in investigating Berezovsky's finances.


Accusations and libel suits in the UK

Berezovsky's meteoric enrichment and involvement in power struggles have been accompanied by allegations of various crimes from his opponents. After his falling out with Putin and exile to London, these allegations became the recurrent theme of official state-controlled media, earning him comparisons with
Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...
and the ''
Nineteen Eighty-Four ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' (also stylised as ''1984'') is a dystopian social science fiction novel and cautionary tale written by the English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and fina ...
'' character
Emmanuel Goldstein Emmanuel Goldstein is a fictional character in George Orwell's 1949 dystopian novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four''. He is the principal enemy of the state according to the Party of the totalitarian Oceania. He is depicted as the head of a mysterious ...
. In 1996, ''
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
'', an American business magazine, published an article by
Paul Klebnikov Paul Klebnikov (russian: Павел Юрьевич Хлебников, translit=Pavel Yurievich Khlebnikov; June 3, 1963  – July 9, 2004) was an American journalist and historian of Russia. He worked for ''Forbes'' magazine for more than ...
entitled "Godfather of the Kremlin?" with the sub-heading "Power. Politics. Murder. Boris Berezovsky could teach the guys in Sicily a thing or two." The article linked Berezovsky to corruption in the car industry, to the Chechen mafia and to the murder of
Vladislav Listyev Vladislav (Vlad) Nikolayevich Listyev (russian: Владисла́в Никола́евич Листьев, links=no; May 10, 1956 – March 1, 1995) was a Russian journalist and head of the ORT TV Channel (now government-owned Channel One). Ca ...
. In 2000, the
House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...
gave Berezovsky and
Nikolai Glushkov Nikolay Alekseevich Glushkov (russian: Николай Алексеевич Глушков; 24 December 1949 – 12 March 2018) was a Russian businessman who was the deputy director of Aeroflot and a finance manager for AvtoVAZ who died in ...
permission to sue for libel in the UK courts. Given that only 2,000 of the 785,000 copies sold worldwide were sold in the United Kingdom, this led numerous scholars to cite '' the case'' as an example of
libel tourism Libel tourism is a term, first coined by Geoffrey Robertson, to describe forum shopping for libel suits. It particularly refers to the practice of pursuing a case in England and Wales, in preference to other jurisdictions, such as the United State ...
. The case slowly proceeded until the claimants opted to settle when ''Forbes'' offered a partial retraction."Shuddup"
Economist 13 March 2003
The following statement appended to the article on the ''Forbes'' website summarises: 'On 6 March 2003, the resolution of the case was announced in the High Court in London. ''Forbes'' stated in open court that (1) it was not the magazine's intention to state that Berezovsky was responsible for the murder of Listiev, only that he had been included in an inconclusive police investigation of the crime; (2) there is no evidence that Berezovsky was responsible for this or any other murder; (3) in light of the English court's ruling, it was wrong to characterize Berezovsky as a mafia boss; and (4) the magazine erred in stating that Glouchkov had been convicted for theft of state property in 1982. Klebnikov elaborated his allegations in his 2000 book ''Godfather of the Kremlin: Boris Berezovsky and the looting of Russia'' (the 2001 edition was titled ''Godfather of the Kremlin: The Decline of Russia in the Age of Gangster Capitalism''). In 2006, a UK court awarded Berezovsky £50,000 in libel damages against the Russian private bank Alfa-Bank and its Chairman, Mikhail Fridman. Fridman had claimed on a Russian television programme that could be watched in the UK that Berezovsky had threatened him when the two men were competitors for control of the Kommersant publishing house, and that making threats was Berezovsky's usual way of conducting business. The jury rejected the defendants' claim that Fridman's allegations were true. Berezovsky accepted the apology and withdrew his libel suit. In March 2010, Berezovsky, represented by Desmond Browne QC, won a libel case and was awarded £150,000 damages by the High Court in London over allegations that he had been behind the murder of
Alexander Litvinenko Alexander Valterovich "Sasha" Litvinenko (30 August 1962 ( at WebCite) or 4 December 1962 – 23 November 2006) was a British-naturalised Russian defector and former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) who specialised ...
."Boris Berezovsky wins Litvinenko poison spy libel case"
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
10 March 2010
The allegations had been broadcast by the Russian state channel RTR Planeta in April 2007 on its programme ''Vesti Nedeli'', which could be viewed from the UK. In his judgement, Mr Justice David Eady, Eady stated: "I can say unequivocally that there is no evidence before me that Mr Berezovsky had any part in the murder of Mr Litvinenko. Nor, for that matter, do I see any basis for reasonable grounds to suspect him of it." Berezovsky had sued both the channel and a man called Vladimir Terluk, whom Mr Justice Eady agreed was the man who had been interviewed in silhouette by the programme under the pseudonym 'Pyotr'. Terluk had claimed that to further his UK asylum application Berezovsky had approached him to fabricate a murder plot against himself, and that Litvinenko knew of this. Mr Justice Eady accepted that Terluk had not himself alleged Berezovsky's involvement in the murder of Litvinenko, but considered that his own allegations were themselves serious and that there was no truth in any of them. As RTR did not participate in the proceedings, Terluk was left to defend the case himself, receiving significant assistance (as the judge noted) from the Russian prosecutor's office. ''The Guardian'' described the 2010 libel case as "almost anarchic at times as officials from the Russian prosecutors' office repeatedly intervened despite not being party to proceedings. So obvious was their intention that when one of their mobile phones went off in court one day, Desmond Browne quipped: 'That must be Mr Putin on the line.'" The defendants appealed to the Court of Appeal but the appeal was dismissed, John Laws (judge), Lord Justice Laws giving a judgment with which the Andrew Morritt, Chancellor of the High Court and Anne Rafferty, Lady Justice Rafferty agreed. The Lord Justice described a witness statement of Andrei Lugovoi, newly adduced by the defendants, as 'not sensibly capable of belief'.


High Court case against Abramovich

In 2011, Berezovsky brought a civil case against
Roman Abramovich Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich (, ; he, רומן ארקדיביץ' אברמוביץ'; born 24 October 1966) is a Russian oligarch and politician. He is the former owner of Chelsea, a Premier League football club in London, England, and is the ...
in the High Court of Justice in London, accusing Abramovich of blackmail, breach of trust and breach of contract, and seeking over £3 billion in damages. This became the largest civil court case in British legal history. Berezovsky's claimed past ownership of
Sibneft Gazprom Neft (russian: Газпром Нефть; formerly Sibneft, russian: Сибнефть, link=no), is the third largest oil producer in Russia and ranked third according to refining throughput. It is a subsidiary of Gazprom, which owns about ...
– which constituted the bulk of his fortune – was put into question by Abramovich, who in a statement to the High Court in London asserted that Berezovsky had never owned shares in Sibneft, and that US$1.3 billion paid in 2001 ostensibly for his stake in the company was actually in recognition of Berezovsky's "political assistance and protection" during the creation of Sibneft in 1995. The hearings, which started on 3 October 2011, examined Berezovsky's US$5.5 billion claim against Abramovich for damages arising from the sale of his assets under alleged "threats and intimidation". On 31 August 2012, the High Court found for Abramovich. The High Court judge stated that because of the nature of the evidence, the case hinged on whether to believe Berezovsky or Abramovich's evidence. In her ruling, the judge observed: "On my analysis of the entirety of the evidence, I found Mr. Berezovsky an unimpressive, and inherently unreliable, witness, who regarded truth as a transitory, flexible concept, which could be moulded to suit his current purposes. ... I regret to say that the bottom line of my analysis of Mr. Berezovsky's credibility is that he would have said almost anything to support his case." She ruled that the monies paid represented a final payment in discharge of all obligations.


Business and personal activities in exile

Berezovsky conducted business with Neil Bush, the younger brother of the President of the United States, US President George W. Bush. Berezovsky was an investor in Bush's Ignite!, Ignite! Learning, an educational software corporation, since at least 2003. In 2005, Neil Bush met with Berezovsky in Latvia, causing tension with Russia due to Berezovsky's fugitive status. Neil Bush was also seen with Berezovsky in his box at an Arsenal F.C. match at the Emirates Stadium in London. There had been speculation that the relationship might have become a cause of tension in Russo-American bilateral relations. It had been speculated that Berezovsky's wealth may have been depleted with the onset of the late 2000s recession. According to the Sunday Times Rich List, in 2011 his net worth was about US$900 million.


Appeals for regime change

In September 2005, Berezovsky said in an interview with the BBC: "I'm sure that Putin doesn't have the chance to survive, even to the 2008 Russian presidential election, next election in 2008. I am doing everything in my power to limit his time frame, and I am really thinking of returning to Russia after Putin collapses, which he will." In January 2006, Berezovsky stated in an interview to a Moscow-based radio station that he was working on overthrowing the administration of Vladimir Putin by force. Berezovsky also accused Putin of being "a gangster" and the "terrorist number one". Berezovsky declared that he was plotting the overthrow of President Putin on 13 April 2007 during an interview ''The Guardian'' conducted: "We need to use force to change this regime. It isn't possible to change this regime through democratic means. There can be no change without force, pressure." He also admitted that during the last six years he had struggled hard to "destroy the positive image of Putin" and said that "Putin has created an authoritarian regime against the Constitution of Russia, Russian constitution. ... I don't know how it will happen, but authoritarian regimes only collapse by force." Soon after Berezovsky's 2007 statement, Garry Kasparov, a figure in the opposition movement The Other Russia (coalition), The Other Russia and leader of the United Civil Front, wrote the following on his website: "Berezovsky has lived in emigration for many years and no longer has significant influence upon the political processes which take place in Russian society. His extravagant proclamations are simply a method of attracting attention. Furthermore, for the overwhelming majority of Russian people he was a political symbol of the 90s, one of the 'bad blokes' enriching themselves behind the back of president Yeltsin. The informational noise around Berezovsky was specifically beneficial for the Kremlin, which was trying to compromise Russia's real opposition. Berezovsky has not had and does not have any relation to Other Russia or the United Civil Front." Berezovsky responded in June 2007 by saying that "there is not one significant politician in Russia whom he has not financed" and that this included members of Other Russia. The managing director of the United Civil Front, in turn, said that the organization would consider suing Berezovsky over these allegations, but the lawsuit has never been brought before the court. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office had launched a criminal investigation against Berezovsky to determine whether his comments could be considered a "seizure of power by force", as outlined in the Russian Criminal Code. If convicted, an offender faces up to twenty years imprisonment. The British Foreign Office denounced Berezovsky's statements, warning him that his status of a political refugee might be reconsidered, should he continue to make similar remarks. Furthermore, Scotland Yard had announced that it would investigate whether Berezovsky's statements violated the law. However, in the following July, the Crown Prosecution Service announced that Berezovsky would not face charges in the UK for his comments. Kremlin officials called it a "disturbing moment" in Anglo-Russian relations.


Involvement in the 2004 Ukraine presidential election

In September 2005, the former president of Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk, accused Berezovsky of having financed Viktor Yushchenko's 2004 Ukrainian presidential election campaign, and provided copies of documents showing money transfers from companies he claimed were controlled by Berezovsky to companies controlled by Yuschenko's official backers. Berezovsky claimed that he met Yushchenko's representatives in London before the election, and that the money was transferred from his companies, but he declined to confirm or deny that the companies that received the money were used in Yushchenko's campaign. Financing of election campaigns by foreign citizens is illegal in Ukraine. In November 2005, Berezovsky also claimed he had heavily financed Ukraine's Orange Revolution (that had followed the presidential election). In September 2007, Berezovsky launched lawsuits against two Ukrainian politicians, Oleksandr Tretyakov, a former presidential aid, and David Zhvaniya, a former emergencies minister.Two Our Ukraine lawmakers summoned to court upon Berezovskiy`s lawsuit
Ukrainian Independent Information Agency, UNIAN, 3 September 2007
Berezovsky was suing the men for nearly US$23 million, accusing them of misusing the money he had allocated in 2004 to fund the Orange Revolution. Yushchenko has denied Berezovsky financed his election campaign.DID BEREZOVSKY FINANCE UKRAINE'S ORANGE REVOLUTION?
The Jamestown Foundation (19 September 2005)
Berezovsky called on Ukrainian business to support Yushchenko in the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election, 2010 presidential election of January 2010 as a guarantor of debarment of property redistribution after the election.Police to detain Russian businessman Berezovsky if arrives in Ukraine
, Kyiv Post (10 December 2009)
On 10 December 2009, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Ukraine), Ukrainian minister of interior affairs Yuriy Lutsenko stated that if the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Russia), Russian interior ministry requested it, Berezovsky would be detained upon arriving in Ukraine. In February 2012, in an interview for the independent Russian Dozhd channel Berezovsky reiterated that he had personally provided approximately $50 millions to the Orange Revolution, Ukrainian Orange revolution. () and Oleksandr Tretiakov were among the ones who allegedly received money.


''Persona non-grata'' in Latvia since October 2005

In October 2005, Latvian Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis signed a decree placing Boris Berezovsky on the list of ''persona non grata, personae non gratae''. The exact reasons for blacklisting Berezovsky were not disclosed. Kalvitis called Berezovsky a "threat" to national security. Previously, the National Security Council of Latvia took the decision to recommend that exiled Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky be barred from traveling to Latvia. The decision to bar the one-time Russian oligarch came swiftly after Berezovsky's trip to Riga in September 2005.Jekabsons resigns after key national security meeting
by Aaron Eglitis, baltictimes.com, 26 October 2005
Berezovsky was in Riga along with Neil Bush, the brother of the U.S. president, to discuss a project with Latvian businessmen.Berezovsky, Neil Bush, Latvian businessmen meet
baltictimes.com, 9 September 2005
The Baltic News Service quoted the former Russian oligarch as saying that he believes Latvia's decision to declare him ''persona non-grata'' was the result of intense pressure by Russia and structures linked with
George Soros George Soros ( name written in eastern order), (born György Schwartz, August 12, 1930) is a Hungarian-American businessman and philanthropist. , he had a net worth of US$8.6 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated mo ...
, the U.S. business magnate who had had acrimonious relations with Berezovsky. Kalvitis however denied the theory that the banning came on pressure from the Kremlin or the White House.Berezovsky official banned from entering Latvia
baltictimes.com, 26 October 2005


Alleged assassination attempts in London


Alleged 2003 plot

According to
Alexander Litvinenko Alexander Valterovich "Sasha" Litvinenko (30 August 1962 ( at WebCite) or 4 December 1962 – 23 November 2006) was a British-naturalised Russian defector and former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) who specialised ...
, a Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officer in London was preparing to assassinate Berezovsky with a binary weapon in September 2003. This alleged plot was reported to British police. Alex Goldfarb and Marina Litvinenko. ''Death of a dissident: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB'', The Free Press (2007) Hazel Blears, then a Home Office Minister, said that inquiries made [into these claims] were "unable to either substantiate this information or find evidence of any criminal offences having been committed".


Alleged 2007 plot

In June 2007, Berezovsky said he fled Britain on the advice of Scotland Yard, amid reports that he was the target of an assassination attempt by a suspected Russian hitman. On 18 July 2007, the British Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid ''The Sun (United Kingdom), The Sun'' reported that the alleged would-be assassin was captured by the police at the Hilton Hotel in Park Lane (road), Park Lane.Security services 'foil plot to kill Berezovsky at the London Hilton'
''The Times'', 18 July 2007
Man questioned over tycoon 'plot
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
, 18 July 2007
They reported that the suspect, arrested by the anti-terrorist police after being tracked for a week by MI5, was deportation, deported back to Russia when no weapons were found and there was not enough evidence to charge him with any offence. In addition, they said British police placed a squad of uniformed officers around
Akhmed Zakayev Akhmed Halidovich Zakayev ( ce, Заки Хьалид кlант Ахьмад, Zaki Halid-khant Ahmad; russian: Ахмед Халидович Закаев, Akhmed Khalidovich Zakayev; born 26 April 1959) is a former Deputy Prime Minister and Pri ...
's house in north London, and also phoned Litvinenko's widow, Marina, to urge her to take greater security precautions. Berezovsky again accused Vladimir Putin of being behind a plot to assassinate him. The Kremlin had denied similar claims in the past.Police Back Berezovsky Murder Story
, ''The Moscow Times'', 19 July 2007
According to the interview given by a high-ranking British security official on BBC Two in July 2008, the alleged Russian agent, known as "A", was of Chechen nationality. He was identified by ''Kommersant'' as the Chechen mobster Movladi Atlangeriyev; after returning to Russia, Atlangeriyev was forced disappearance, forcibly disappeared in January 2008 by unknown men in Moscow.


Death of friends and associates in London


Death of Alexander Litvinenko in November 2006

Alexander Litvinenko Alexander Valterovich "Sasha" Litvinenko (30 August 1962 ( at WebCite) or 4 December 1962 – 23 November 2006) was a British-naturalised Russian defector and former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) who specialised ...
, one of Berezovsky's closest associates, was murdered in London in November 2006 with a rare radioactive poison, Polonium 210. The British authorities charged a former FSB officer and head of security at ORT, Andrey Lugovoy, with the murder and requested his extradition, which Russia refused. Several Russian diplomats were expelled from the UK over the case. The UK government has not publicly expressed a view on the matter, but allegations that the murder was sponsored by the Russian state have been expressed by "sources in the UK government", according to the BBC, and by officials of the US Department of State, as revealed by WikiLeaks; they were reflected in a 2008 resolution by the US Congress. The intricate details of the murder, the relationship between Litvinenko and Berezosvsky, and the implications of the case have been described in the 2007 book, ''Death of a Dissident: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB'' by Alexander Goldfarb (biologist and activist), Alex Goldfarb with Marina Litvinenko. An alternative, more dubious narrative —– that the murder was orchestrated by Berezovsky and his associate Alex Goldfarb with the aim of "framing" the Russian government and discrediting it on the global stage – has aired in Russian state-funded media by Lugovoy, by Litvinenko's Italy-based father, by Nikita Chekulin and by Russian officials. Berezovsky won a UK libel suit against Russian State Television over these allegations in 2010 (see above), following which he commented, "I trust the conclusions of the British investigators that the trail leads to Russia and I hope that one day justice will prevail."


Death of Badri Patarkatsishvili in February 2008

In the evening of Tuesday, 12 February 2008, Georgia (country), Georgia's richest man, billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili, Arkady "Badri" Patarkatsishvili, a close friend and long-time business partner of Berezovsky, collapsed and died in his bedroom after a family dinner at Downside Manor, his mansion in Leatherhead, Surrey, England, at the age of 52.The Widow and the Oligarchs
''Vanity Fair'', 30 September 2009
Patarkatsishvili, who as a presidential candidate had also been campaigning to oust Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili, spent his last day in the City of London office of international law firm Debevoise and Plimpton. He was preparing along with his lawyer Peter Goldsmith, Baron Goldsmith, Lord Goldsmith Queen's Counsel, QC and fellow exiles, the Russians
Nikolai Glushkov Nikolay Alekseevich Glushkov (russian: Николай Алексеевич Глушков; 24 December 1949 – 12 March 2018) was a Russian businessman who was the deputy director of Aeroflot and a finance manager for AvtoVAZ who died in ...
and Yuli Dubov. Shortly after dining at Downside Manor, Patarkatsishvili told his family he felt unwell and went upstairs to his bedroom where he was found unconscious after a heart attack. Resuscitation attempts were unsuccessful., ''Daily Mirror'', 15 February 2008 As in any other case of unexpected death, Surrey Constabulary, Surrey police treated the case as "suspicious" and launched an official investigation. Preliminary reports indicated a heart attack as the cause of death. Berezovsky described the death of his closest friend as "a terrible tragedy".


Death

On 23 March 2013, Berezovsky was found dead at his home, Titness Park, at Sunninghill, near Ascot in Berkshire. His body was found by a bodyguard in a locked bathroom, with a ligature around his neck. His death was announced in a post on Facebook by his son-in-law. Alexander Dobrovinsky, a lawyer who had represented Berezovsky, wrote that he may have committed suicide, adding that Berezovsky had fallen into debt after losing the lawsuit against Abramovich, and had spent the final few months of his life selling his possessions to cover his court costs. Berezovsky was also said to have recently been depressed and to have isolated himself from friends. He reportedly suffered from depression and was taking antidepressant drugs; a day prior to his death he told a reporter in London that he had nothing left to live for. The Thames Valley Police classified his death as "unexplained" and launched a formal investigation into the circumstances behind it. Specialists in CBRN defense, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials were deployed to Berezovsky's home as a "precaution". These specialists later "found nothing of concern". A post-mortem examination carried out by the Home Office pathologist found the cause of death was consistent with hanging and there was nothing pointing to a violent struggle. At the March 2014 inquest into the death, however, Berezovsky's daughter Elizaveta introduced a report by German pathologist Bernd Brinkmann, with whom she had shared the autopsy photos, noting that the Ligature strangulation, ligature mark on her father's neck was circular rather than V-shaped as is commonly the case with hanging victims, and called the coroner's attention to a statement by one of the responding paramedics who found it strange that Berezovsky's face was purple, rather than pale as hanging victims usually are. The body also had a fresh wound on the back of the head and a fractured rib (injuries police believed Berezovsky could have suffered in the process of falling as he hanged himself). An unidentified fingerprint was found near the body, and one paramedic's radiation alarm sounded as they entered the house. Following the inquest the coroner, Peter Bedford, recorded an
open verdict The open verdict is an option open to a coroner's jury at an inquest in the legal system of England and Wales. The verdict means the jury confirms the death is suspicious, but is unable to reach any other verdicts open to them. Mortality studies c ...
commenting, "I am not saying Mr Berezovsky took his own life, I am not saying Mr Berezovsky was unlawfully killed. What I am saying is that the burden of proof sets such a high standard it is impossible for me to say." He specifically cited the Brinkmann report as casting reasonable doubt on the suicide theory, even though Brinkmann had not been able to personally examine the body. Berezovsky was buried on 8 May 2013 in a private ceremony at Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey. The burial timing had been changed on several occasions to try to avoid interest from the Russian media.


Apology to Putin

After Berezovsky's death, a spokesman for President Putin reported that he had sent a letter to the Russian president, asking for permission to return to Russia and asking "forgiveness for his mistakes." Some of Berezovsky's associates doubted the letter's existence, claiming that it was out of character. However, his girlfriend at the time, Katerina Sabirova, later confirmed in an interview that he did in fact send the letter: :"I said that they will publish it and you will look bad. And that it won't help. He answered that it was all the same to him, that in any case all sins were blamed on him and that this was his only chance." It was claimed by anonymous sources that rival Roman Abramovich delivered the letter to Putin personally, having received an apology from Berezovsky himself. Both Putin's chief of staff, Sergei Ivanov, and Abramovich's spokesman alluded to the letter being passed by a "certain person", but did not go into details due to the personal nature of the issue.


Publications by Berezovsky

Berezovsky was a Doctor of Sciences, doctor of technical sciences and author of many academic papers and studies such as "Binary relations in multi-criteria optimizations" and "Multi-criteria optimization: mathematical aspects". In the mathematical review index MathSciNet, B.A. Berezovsky is credited with 16 publications from 1975 to 1989 on operations research and mathematical programming, earning 9 citations in other publications. Most cited is the book ''The Problem of Optimal Choice'' with A.V. Gnedin (Nauka, Moscow 1984), devoted to secretary problems. Aside from his academic publications, he frequently authored articles and gave interviews; these are collected in ''The Art of the Impossible'' (3 vols.). He continued to contribute articles while in exile, taking a highly critical view of Russia's political leaders.


Works about Berezovsky

In 1996, the Russian-American journalist
Paul Klebnikov Paul Klebnikov (russian: Павел Юрьевич Хлебников, translit=Pavel Yurievich Khlebnikov; June 3, 1963  – July 9, 2004) was an American journalist and historian of Russia. He worked for ''Forbes'' magazine for more than ...
wrote a highly critical article entitled "Godfather of the Kremlin?" on Berezovsky and the state of Russia more generally, in response to which Berezovsky sued ''
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
'' in the UK (see above); in 2001, he expanded his article into a book entitled ''Godfather of the Kremlin'', alternatively subtitled ''The Decline of Russia in the Age of Gangster Capitalism'' and ''Boris Berezovsky and the looting of Russia''. On 9 July 2004, while leaving the ''Forbes'' office in Moscow, unknown assailants fired at Klebnikov from a slowly moving car. He was shot four times and died later in hospital. Klebnikov's body was barely cold when Boris Berezovsky, in the words of investigative journalist Richard Behar, "whipped out his tongue from its holster and publicly called the 41-year-old editor of Forbes Russia 'a dishonest reporter'." ''Secret Diary of a Russian Oligarch'' and ''How to get rid of Oligarch or Who Beat Berezovsky'' by Sasha Nerozina (friend of the Berezovsky family and a spokeswoman of Berezovsky's wife Galina) were published in Russia and other former Soviet states in 2013 and 2014 by Olma Media Publishing House. Yuli Dubov, a close business associate of Berezovsky, wrote a novel based on Berezovsky's life which provided the basis for the 2002 film Tycoon (2002 film), ''Tycoon''. Like Berezovsky, he fled to London and successfully fought extradition to Russia. Judge
Timothy Workman Senior District Judge Timothy Henry Workman is a British retired judge, a long-term stipendiary magistrate who served as Senior District Judge ( Chief Magistrate) for England and Wales. From 1967 to 1969, Workman was a probation officer in ...
of
Bow Street Magistrates' Court Bow Street Magistrates' Court became one of the most famous magistrates' court in England. Over its 266-year existence it occupied various buildings on Bow Street in Central London, immediately north-east of Covent Garden. It closed in 2006 a ...
in central London dropped extradition proceedings against Yuly Dubov in October 2003. Alex Goldfarb, a microbiologist and activist who became acquainted with Berezovsky in the 1990s and later worked for him, provides snapshots of Berezovsky at crucial moments as background to his 2007 account of the Litvinenko murder case, co-written with Marina Litvinenko, ''Death of a Dissident, Death of a Dissident: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB''. David E. Hoffman of ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' wrote ''The Oligarchs: Wealth and Power in the New Russia'', which provides a comparative treatment of Berezovsky and several of his fellow so-called business oligarchs. Ben Mezrich wrote ''Once Upon a Time in Russia: The Rise of the Oligarchs—A True Story of Ambition, Wealth, Betrayal, and Murder'', which provides a comparative narrative of Berezovsky and Roman Abramovich through their careers, friendship, and ultimate rivalry. In 2017, the Russian book "Time of Berezovsky" was published by Corpus (an Imprint (trade name), imprint of AST (publisher), AST), in which Petr Aven – a friend of Berezovsky – interviewed various people who were close to Berezovsky at different times, including Leonid Boguslavsky, Yuli Dubov, Galina Besharova, Yelena Gorbunova, Yuri Shefler,
Anatoly Chubais Anatoly Borisovich Chubais (russian: Анатолий Борисович Чубайс; born 16 June 1955) is a Russian politician and economist who was responsible for privatization in Russia as an influential member of Boris Yeltsin's administ ...
, Mikhail Fridman,
Valentin Yumashev Valentin Borisovich Yumashev (russian: link=no, Валентин Борисович Юмашев; born 15 December 1957) is a Russian journalist, politician and businessman-developer, who is the son-in-law of former President Boris Yeltsin and ...
, Sergey Dorenko, Eugene Shvidler, Vladimir Pozner Jr., Vladimir Posner, Alexander Goldfarb (biologist), Alexander Goldfarb,
Alexander Voloshin Alexander Stalyevich Voloshin (russian: link=no, Александр Стальевич Волóшин; born 3 March 1956, Moscow) is a Russian politician who briefly was chairman of the board of directors of RAO UES, the former Russian state p ...
, Stanislav Belkovsky and Yuri Felshtinsky. A documentary about Berezovsky's efforts to undermine Putin from his exile in UK was shown on the BBC in December 2005. Berezovsky features in a painting by the Russian artist Ilya Glazunov, displayed in Moscow's Ilya Glazunov Gallery. According to the Rough Guide, "''The Market of Our Democracy'' shows Yeltsin waving a conductor's baton as two lesbians kiss and the oligarch Berezovsky flaunts a sign reading "I will buy Russia", while charlatans rob a crowd of refugees and starving children." Berezovsky also features as a character in the opera ''The Life and Death of Alexander Litvinenko'' by Alexander Woolf to a libretto by David Pountney, which was premiered in July 2021 at Grange Park Opera. Patriots (play), ''Patriots'' premiered at the Almeida Theatre in Islington, London, in May 2022, following the life of Berezovsky from the president's inner circle to public enemy number one. Tom Hollander played Berezovsky. The play was written by Peter Morgan and directed by Rupert Goold. It played a limited run from 2 July 2022 until 20 August. It will transfer to the West End in 2023


See also

*List of unsolved deaths *Russian oligarchs *Semibankirschina


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berezovsky, Boris Boris Berezovsky (businessman), 1946 births 2013 deaths 1st class Active State Councillors of the Russian Federation 20th-century Russian businesspeople 21st-century Russian businesspeople Aeroflot Burials at Brookwood Cemetery Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Corresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Deaths by hanging Fugitive financiers Fugitives wanted by Russia Fugitives Moscow State Forest University alumni Russian oligarchs People from Sunninghill Recipients of the Lenin Komsomol Prize Russian billionaires Russian businesspeople in the oil industry Russian dissidents Russian emigrants to the United Kingdom Russian mass media owners Russian mathematicians Russian newspaper publishers (people) Russian non-fiction writers Russian people of Jewish descent Russian political activists Unsolved deaths Writers from Moscow Russian businesspeople in the United Kingdom Third convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation)