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Boris Berezovsky: an oligarch dies Boris Berezovsky: an oligarch dies
(6 months later)
The immediate response to the news that the exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky had been found dead at his Berkshire mansion was to question how he died. That in itself is telling of how little trust there is in Britain of those who run Russia. But now radiation experts have given the all-clear, and the possibility that the oligarch had met the same fate as one of his proteges, the spy Alexander Litvinenko, recedes, a more prosaic, personal truth emerges.The immediate response to the news that the exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky had been found dead at his Berkshire mansion was to question how he died. That in itself is telling of how little trust there is in Britain of those who run Russia. But now radiation experts have given the all-clear, and the possibility that the oligarch had met the same fate as one of his proteges, the spy Alexander Litvinenko, recedes, a more prosaic, personal truth emerges.
The exile pined for his lost homeland. In an interview with Forbes Russia just before his death, he revealed that he had lost "the meaning of life" and wanted to return to mother Russia. Hard hit after losing a court case against his former associate Roman Abramovich, called a liar by a judge, pursued by his former mistress Elena Gorbunova for a £5m slice of their £25m pad in Surrey, the former Kremlin power-broker met an end which Dostoyevsky himself could have written. It may not be just Kremlin spin that he wrote to his nemesis Vladimir Putin pleading forgiveness and a safe passage back to Russia.The exile pined for his lost homeland. In an interview with Forbes Russia just before his death, he revealed that he had lost "the meaning of life" and wanted to return to mother Russia. Hard hit after losing a court case against his former associate Roman Abramovich, called a liar by a judge, pursued by his former mistress Elena Gorbunova for a £5m slice of their £25m pad in Surrey, the former Kremlin power-broker met an end which Dostoyevsky himself could have written. It may not be just Kremlin spin that he wrote to his nemesis Vladimir Putin pleading forgiveness and a safe passage back to Russia.
Berezovsky was emblematic of what went wrong for democrats in Russia in the 1990s. His life's story shows how plutocrats helped kill democracy and pave the way for the autocracy that now holds sway. The rapid accumulation of obscene amounts of wealth, money-laundering, loans for shares, fixing the 1996 election, suborning a television channel for political use – the tycoon had fingers, hands and arms in all of these pies. Mr Putin did not overturn the principle that the closer you got to the centre of power, the richer you got. He converted it for his own exclusive use. No checks and balances in Mr Putin's Russia? Well,it was people like Berezovsky who fashioned this system. He did it in the name of keeping communists out of power, but he destroyed institutions independent of the Kremlin in the process. In the cause of keeping Boris Yeltsin in power, Berezovsky believed the end justified the means. No wonder it's now so hard to think of a constitutional and orderly way of prising the fingers of another Russian leader past his sell-by date off the levers of power.Berezovsky was emblematic of what went wrong for democrats in Russia in the 1990s. His life's story shows how plutocrats helped kill democracy and pave the way for the autocracy that now holds sway. The rapid accumulation of obscene amounts of wealth, money-laundering, loans for shares, fixing the 1996 election, suborning a television channel for political use – the tycoon had fingers, hands and arms in all of these pies. Mr Putin did not overturn the principle that the closer you got to the centre of power, the richer you got. He converted it for his own exclusive use. No checks and balances in Mr Putin's Russia? Well,it was people like Berezovsky who fashioned this system. He did it in the name of keeping communists out of power, but he destroyed institutions independent of the Kremlin in the process. In the cause of keeping Boris Yeltsin in power, Berezovsky believed the end justified the means. No wonder it's now so hard to think of a constitutional and orderly way of prising the fingers of another Russian leader past his sell-by date off the levers of power.
In Britain, Berezovsky exerted a magnetic force over other exiled compatriots. Litvinenko, the separatist Chechen leader Akhmed Zakayev, and Berezovsky himself were all targets of assassination plots. But truth was never easy to untangle from fiction. Berezovsky was never as central to Yeltsin's Kremlin as he claimed, nor as dangerous to Mr Putin. The exile had no following at home. Berezovsky craved to be back at the centre of things, fashioning the next phase of Russia's development. In his day, he'd enjoyed power, virtually unlimited wealth, and political influence – and could not cope with their loss.In Britain, Berezovsky exerted a magnetic force over other exiled compatriots. Litvinenko, the separatist Chechen leader Akhmed Zakayev, and Berezovsky himself were all targets of assassination plots. But truth was never easy to untangle from fiction. Berezovsky was never as central to Yeltsin's Kremlin as he claimed, nor as dangerous to Mr Putin. The exile had no following at home. Berezovsky craved to be back at the centre of things, fashioning the next phase of Russia's development. In his day, he'd enjoyed power, virtually unlimited wealth, and political influence – and could not cope with their loss.
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