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| Boris Berezovsky: kingmaker reduced to a shadow in exile | Boris Berezovsky: kingmaker reduced to a shadow in exile |
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| By the end of his days, Boris Berezovsky, the exiled Russian tycoon who has died in unclear circumstances, was seen as a puppet master with few strings left to pull. He will be remembered in Russia as the man who orchestrated Vladimir Putin's unlikely ascent to power – and then became his loudest foe. Falling out with his powerful creation had its dire consequences: exile, criminal charges, witnessing the murky deaths of friends and allies. In recent months, Russian television – once controlled by Berezovsky in his 1990s heyday but now firmly in the hands of the Kremlin – revelled in the details of his financial demise. | By the end of his days, Boris Berezovsky, the exiled Russian tycoon who has died in unclear circumstances, was seen as a puppet master with few strings left to pull. He will be remembered in Russia as the man who orchestrated Vladimir Putin's unlikely ascent to power – and then became his loudest foe. Falling out with his powerful creation had its dire consequences: exile, criminal charges, witnessing the murky deaths of friends and allies. In recent months, Russian television – once controlled by Berezovsky in his 1990s heyday but now firmly in the hands of the Kremlin – revelled in the details of his financial demise. |
| Once, he was one of Russia's most powerful men, the fast-talking, impossibly well-connected, leader of a group of oligarchs that ruled Russia from behind the scenes as Boris Yeltsin, the country's first post-Soviet president, slipped deeper and deeper into ill health. He fashioned links to power to build on the fortune he had already amassed by navigating the wild and murky chaos that gripped Russia as the Soviet Union fell, while most of the population plunged into poverty. As part of a controversial loans-for-shares scheme, he snapped up the airline Aeroflot and the oil producer Sibneft, along with Roman Abramovich. By then he owned the country's most powerful television station. | Once, he was one of Russia's most powerful men, the fast-talking, impossibly well-connected, leader of a group of oligarchs that ruled Russia from behind the scenes as Boris Yeltsin, the country's first post-Soviet president, slipped deeper and deeper into ill health. He fashioned links to power to build on the fortune he had already amassed by navigating the wild and murky chaos that gripped Russia as the Soviet Union fell, while most of the population plunged into poverty. As part of a controversial loans-for-shares scheme, he snapped up the airline Aeroflot and the oil producer Sibneft, along with Roman Abramovich. By then he owned the country's most powerful television station. |
| Seeking a successor to Yeltsin ahead of a 2000 election, he was said to have seen a malleable figure in Putin, then an unknown former KGB officer working in the mayor's office in St Petersburg, and threw his vast media resources into introducing him to the nation. Trained in the Soviet era as a mathematician, Berezovsky thoroughly miscalculated. | Seeking a successor to Yeltsin ahead of a 2000 election, he was said to have seen a malleable figure in Putin, then an unknown former KGB officer working in the mayor's office in St Petersburg, and threw his vast media resources into introducing him to the nation. Trained in the Soviet era as a mathematician, Berezovsky thoroughly miscalculated. |
| Berezovsky soon fell out with Putin, who proved to be more independent than the tycoon could have imagined. Berezovsky's Channel One began questioning the increasingly powerful leader – focusing on his bungled handling of the Kursk submarine disaster, in which 118 sailors died, and exploring possible security services involvement in a series of deadly bomb blasts that provided the catalyst for the renewal of war in Chechnya. | Berezovsky soon fell out with Putin, who proved to be more independent than the tycoon could have imagined. Berezovsky's Channel One began questioning the increasingly powerful leader – focusing on his bungled handling of the Kursk submarine disaster, in which 118 sailors died, and exploring possible security services involvement in a series of deadly bomb blasts that provided the catalyst for the renewal of war in Chechnya. |
| The latter would seal his friendship with Alexander Litvinenko, a former FSB officer who claimed he was once ordered to assassinate Berezovsky and who later devoted his life to investigating the bombing claims. Litvinenko died of polonium poisoning in London in 2006. Until his financial troubles began, Berezovsky was paying the legal fees of Litvinenko's widow, Marina, as she fought to prove Russian state involvement in her husband's death. | The latter would seal his friendship with Alexander Litvinenko, a former FSB officer who claimed he was once ordered to assassinate Berezovsky and who later devoted his life to investigating the bombing claims. Litvinenko died of polonium poisoning in London in 2006. Until his financial troubles began, Berezovsky was paying the legal fees of Litvinenko's widow, Marina, as she fought to prove Russian state involvement in her husband's death. |
| Putin threw the full power of his state against Berezovsky: legal claims involving Aeroflot, the arrest of an associate, schemes that the tycoon claimed forced him to sell Channel One, and his stake in Sibneft. His claims of intimidation over the Sibneft sale were dismissed in court when he tried to sue Abramovich for damages. | Putin threw the full power of his state against Berezovsky: legal claims involving Aeroflot, the arrest of an associate, schemes that the tycoon claimed forced him to sell Channel One, and his stake in Sibneft. His claims of intimidation over the Sibneft sale were dismissed in court when he tried to sue Abramovich for damages. |
| A fellow oligarch media magnate, Vladimir Gusinsky, had already been forced into exile as Putin sought to rid the Kremlin of outside meddling. Berezovsky followed in 2001, settling in London, where he was granted political asylum two years later. | A fellow oligarch media magnate, Vladimir Gusinsky, had already been forced into exile as Putin sought to rid the Kremlin of outside meddling. Berezovsky followed in 2001, settling in London, where he was granted political asylum two years later. |
| Berezovsky made a career of criticising Putin from abroad. Shorn of his homeland and stripped of his power, he accused the Russian president of cracking down on free speech, killing critics and amassing enormous wealth. He also claimed to have helped fund the revolutions that swept Ukraine and Georgia nearly a decade ago, turning the post-Soviet countries away from Moscow. | Berezovsky made a career of criticising Putin from abroad. Shorn of his homeland and stripped of his power, he accused the Russian president of cracking down on free speech, killing critics and amassing enormous wealth. He also claimed to have helped fund the revolutions that swept Ukraine and Georgia nearly a decade ago, turning the post-Soviet countries away from Moscow. |
| Russia tried him several times in absentia, finding him guilty of stealing great sums from Aeroflot. Britain repeatedly denied requests for his extradition, a sore point in relations between London and Moscow. | Russia tried him several times in absentia, finding him guilty of stealing great sums from Aeroflot. Britain repeatedly denied requests for his extradition, a sore point in relations between London and Moscow. |
| The Kremlin eventually turned Berezovsky's claims against him – accusing the former kingmaker of orchestrating nearly every scandal to hit the country in the past decade. Kremlin officials said he was involved in the death of Litvinenko as well as of crusading journalist and Putin critic Anna Politkovskaya. A recent report on NTV, another state-run TV channel, implied he had created the jailed punk group Pussy Riot in order to embarrass the Kremlin. The charges kept piling on – the latest, coming in May last year, accused him of "seeking to provoke mass unrest". | The Kremlin eventually turned Berezovsky's claims against him – accusing the former kingmaker of orchestrating nearly every scandal to hit the country in the past decade. Kremlin officials said he was involved in the death of Litvinenko as well as of crusading journalist and Putin critic Anna Politkovskaya. A recent report on NTV, another state-run TV channel, implied he had created the jailed punk group Pussy Riot in order to embarrass the Kremlin. The charges kept piling on – the latest, coming in May last year, accused him of "seeking to provoke mass unrest". |
| By the end of his life, Berezovsky was a shadow of his former self. Speaking to the Russian edition of Forbes on Friday, the day before he was found dead, he said: "I want nothing more than to return to Russia. The most important thing I didn't realise was how dear Russia is to me, how I can't be an emigrant." | By the end of his life, Berezovsky was a shadow of his former self. Speaking to the Russian edition of Forbes on Friday, the day before he was found dead, he said: "I want nothing more than to return to Russia. The most important thing I didn't realise was how dear Russia is to me, how I can't be an emigrant." |
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