Boris Abramowitsch Berezovsky

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Boris Abramowitsch Berezovsky ( Russian Борис Абрамович Березовский ; born January 23, 1946 in Moscow ; †  March 23, 2013 in Ascot ) was a Russian businessman and politician , as well as one of the Russian oligarchs . Because of differences of opinion with his former protégé Vladimir Putin , he emigrated to Great Britain . He was later accused of corruption and money laundering in Russia and was granted political asylum in the United Kingdom . His family lives in Israel . Since 2003 he used the name Plato Elenin.

Life

In Russia

Berezovsky was born in Moscow as the son of a Jewish-Russian academic couple. He studied electrical engineering and mathematical mechanics and graduated in 1973 from Lomonosov University in Moscow. He then completed at the Institute for Control Engineering of the Soviet Academy of Sciences his postgraduate . He wrote his habilitation in 1983 on the subject of decision theory . Since 1991 he has been a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences.

After his studies, Beresowski worked at various research institutes in the field of control, automation and management systems until 1987. From 1973 he worked with the automotive company AwtoWAS ( Lada ), for which he had developed software in his institute. With the onset of perestroika in the Soviet Union , he entered the private sector and together with AwtoWAS founded the car trading company LogoWAS (Russian ЛогоВАЗ). During the times of hyperinflation in Russia, he built the largest auto trading network in the country.

In October 1993, together with some AwtoWAS managers, he founded the All-Russian Automobile Alliance (Автомобильный всероссийский альянс (AVVA)), with whose investment funds he again acquired large shares of AwtoWAS during the privatization. Berezovsky made a lot of money importing Mercedes vehicles to Russia and acting as a middleman for cars from the AwtoWAS group.

Since 1994, Berezovsky has been the main shareholder in the television company ORTV, which operated the largest and nationwide broadcaster in Russia, ORT . In the same year he survived a bomb attack in his car. In the following year, in connection with the murder of the popular ORT director Vladislav Listjew , who had a conflict with Berezovsky over the broadcasting policy of ORT, investigations were started against Berezovsky, but these were broken off.

In the 1996 election campaign Boris Berezovsky - who in the meantime also had holdings in the oil company Sibneft and the airline Aeroflot - significantly supported the re-election of Boris Yeltsin as President of Russia with his ORT station and financial contributions . To this end, he initiated the so-called “Seven Bankers Gang” (“Semibankirschtschina”), an association of wealthy oligarchs who, with money and “administrative measures”, got Yeltsin, who was in polls at 4 percent, into the presidency again in the second ballot. As a result, during the second term of the weakened Yeltsin, Berezovsky had great influence on the president. He was one of the very few people who had access to him at all times, and he was friends with Yeltsin's daughter Tatiana . Western media also referred to Berezovsky as the “ gray eminence ” behind Yeltsin. Berezovsky sued the magazine Forbes , because it him as the Godfather ( The Godfather ) of the Kremlin described. In an out-of-court settlement, Forbes admitted the designation was wrong and the lawsuit was dropped.

Yeltsin appointed Berezovsky after the successful election campaign as Vice President of the National Security Council. However, he had to give up this position again when he was suspected of doing illegal banking in Chechnya in 1997. He was given a new post in 1998 as Executive Secretary of the Commonwealth of Independent States . He also had to leave this post when in 1999 the Russian public prosecutor's office investigated him in the “Aeroflot case” for illegal business activities and money laundering. In the 1999 parliamentary elections , however, he gained a seat in the Duma as a member of the Caucasus Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia and thus political immunity .

According to his own statement, it was Berezovsky who heaved the supposedly easily manipulable Vladimir Putin into the office of prime minister in 1999 and thus installed him as Yeltsin's successor. However, after Putin took over the presidency of Yeltsin, who resigned immediately, at the end of 1999, problems arose for Berezovsky - as for all oligarchs who did not stay out of politics under President Putin. In addition to ORT, Berezovsky's corporate empire now also included three daily newspapers (including Nesavisimaja Gazeta and Kommersant ) and the TV channel TW-6 . In conflict with Putin, Berezovsky resigned, among other things, because of the reform of the Federation Council , because of the Second Chechen War and because of the inadequate crisis management after the sinking of the submarine K-141 Kursk in August 2000. In the same year, Berezovsky went into exile . He sold some of his company holdings (including the shares in ORT, Aeroflot and Sibneft) to Roman Abramowitsch .

Exile in Great Britain

Berezovsky on a protest poster during a demonstration in Saint Petersburg in 2007 (inscription: "Berezovsky, we are with you")

In September 2003 he was granted political asylum in London, where Berezovsky had lived since November 2000 . He had the name Plato Elenin entered in his refugee passport . (The main actor in Pawel Lungin's film “The Oligarch”, which is about Berezovsky , also appears as “Plato” .)

From London, Berezovsky tried to influence Russian domestic politics. After his arrest in October 2003, he stood behind the Putin critic and oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky . He supported Ivan Rybkin in the 2004 presidential election .

On the other hand, Berezovsky was the number one public enemy in Russia and as such the Russian government under President Putin accused him of being responsible for the death of Putin's opponent Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned in November 2006 . However, Berezovsky denied this accusation. Among other things, he had bought Litvinenko a house and helped him publicize his allegations against the Russian government. The Russian government also blamed Berezovsky for the death of journalist Anna Politkovskaya .

Berezovsky also used his influence against the governments loyal to Putin in former Soviet republics. In the spring of 2003, he met the Georgian opposition politician and later Prime Minister Zurab Schwania in London through the mediation of his former business partner Badri Patarkazishvili . Schwania, in turn, brokered funds from Berezovsky in the Ukraine , namely for the presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko . After Yushchenko's election victory at the end of 2004, Berezovsky toyed with the idea of moving to Kiev , but did not implement it because he might have been extradited to Russia.

In June 2006, Berezovsky called for the overthrow of the Putin government. In doing so, he received a reprimand from the then British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw . Nevertheless, in an interview with the Guardian in April 2007, Berezovsky again called for a violent overthrow of the Russian government. He put these statements into perspective with a statement that he did not support bloody methods, although changes could not be achieved in a democratic way.

Last months of life and death

In 2012, he sued the Russian oligarch Roman Abramowitsch because he felt pressured by him to sell his shares in the Sibneft oil company far below their actual value. This lawsuit was dismissed by the court as unfounded and Berezovsky had to pay high legal fees. According to the BBC, Berezovsky felt “down” after this court ruling and closed his London office. The breakup with his longtime girlfriend resulted in a payment of £ 100 million . In early 2013, his ex-girlfriend Jelena Gorbunova sued him for several million pounds sterling in damages from the sale of a house in Surrey . The newspaper The Times reported on March 18, 2013, he was forced to a Lenin picture of the artist Andy Warhol presented for sale.

On March 23, 2013, Berezovsky was found dead by an employee in the bathroom of his home in Ascot . The British police then investigated whether radioactive, chemical or biological substances had been used to kill him, as he had been assassinated several times in the 1990s and a paramedic's dosimeter had struck in the house. After the news of his death, Forbes magazine published an interview with Berezovsky, which he gave the evening before his death, in which he said he wanted to return to Russia. Berezovsky had said he believed President Putin was capable of killing anyone he sees as an enemy, and he saw himself as a potential victim of such an attack. Berezovsky therefore lived in a house - it had once belonged to the British radio DJ Chris Evans - that was equipped with bulletproof glass and other security technology.

The preliminary investigations by the British police and the results of the autopsy on the cause of death were interpreted as death by hanging , no traces of a fight were found. The following judicial investigation and the forensic investigations came in March 2014 concluded that it was not determine beyond doubt whether it constitutes suicide or a homicide, one under British law the so-called "open verdict", which explicitly does not determine the cause of death and such a suspicion.

The German forensic scientist Professor Bernd Brinkmann , who testified on behalf of daughter Elizaveta Berezovskaya before the investigative court in Berkshire, questioned the "death by hanging" version. Photos and autopsy reports led him to the conclusion that Berezovsky was strangled because the strangulation mark ran horizontally around the neck and neck and was not compatible with a suspension. In the case of a suicide by hanging, it would have had to rise steeply towards the nape of the neck, and the deep red face of Berezovsky was something he had never seen before in a suicide by hanging.

Allegations of the judiciary

In Russia, Berezovsky has been wanted by arrest warrant since 2001. He is said to have embezzled cars worth $ 13 million from investors in 2033 in his financial transactions with Lada. A corresponding indictment was brought against Berezovsky and his business partner Badri Patarkatsishvili in September 2002.

In Switzerland , the Federal Prosecutor's Office started investigations against Berezovsky in November 2003 following allegations of money laundering. Berezovsky accused the federal prosecutor of letting himself be involved in Russian proceedings with a political background. The proceedings were discontinued in 2010 because no illegal origin of funds could have been proven.

In 2004, Berezovsky was linked to the murder of the American journalist Paul Klebnikow . Klebnikow had published books on the power of the oligarchs, in particular on Berezovsky and the financiers of the First Chechen War .

In April 2007, the Russian General Prosecutor brought charges against Berezovsky for illegally appropriating 214 million rubles (6.2 million euros) from the airline Aeroflot in the early 1990s. In the process, the billionaire was previously only considered an accomplice.

In São Paulo , Brazil , Berezovsky is under investigation for alleged involvement in a money laundering scandal related to SC Corinthians . A Brazilian court issued an arrest warrant in July 2007.

In August 2007, a Moscow court issued another arrest warrant. In 1997, Berezovsky sneaked a loan of 9.4 million euros from the Russian bank SBS-Agro to buy a house on the French Côte d'Azur .

After Berezovsky's death, the Russian judiciary raised claims to the property of the deceased, who is said to have illegally appropriated riches and was convicted in absentia several times in Russia.

Private life

Berezovsky was married twice. He was married to Nina Korotkova from 1970 to 1991 and had two children. After the divorce, he married Galina Besharova. The marriage was divorced in 2010. This divorce in an English court, with the ex-wife being awarded more than 100 million pounds, was the most expensive divorce decree in English litigation history to date. Berezovsky had two children with Besharova. Berezovsky had been living with Jelena Gorbunowa since 1992. The separation took place in 2012 after 20 years of partnership. He also had two children together with Gorbunova.

Logowaz Triumph Foundation

In 1992, Berezovsky founded the non-profit Triumph Logowaz Foundation. Between 1992 and 2010, the foundation awarded five prizes each year to Russian writers, musicians and artists for special cultural achievements. The Triumph award took place in the Pushkin Museum .

Posthumous

On March 12, 2018, 68-year-old Nikolai Gluschkow , a former business partner of Boris Berezovsky, who played an important role in his dealings with Lada and as deputy general director of the state airline Aeroflot, was found dead in London . British counterterrorism police announced three days later that traces of violence had been found on his neck.

literature

  • Paul Klebnikow: The Godfather of the Kremlin: Boris Berezovsky and the power of the oligarchs . Econ, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-430-15475-8

watch TV

  • Alexander Gentelev: The oligarchs - the rise and fall of a Russian elite . Television documentation (TVP1 / Arte / Télé Europe et al.), 2005
  • Patrick Forbes: Russia's godparents (Berezovsky, Khodorkovski) . TV documentary (BBC), 2006

Web links

Commons : Boris Abramowitsch Berezovsky  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Boris Berezovsky death: chemical hazard police gives house the all-clear BBC News March 24, 2013, accessed March 24, 2013
  2. ↑ List of academy members on the website of the Russian Academy of Sciences , as of February 20, 2001 (Russian)
  3. ↑ Short biography on the website of the station Echo Moskwy , as of September 12, 2012 (Russian)
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g Obituary Boris Berezovsky BBC News March 23, 2013, accessed March 24, 2013
  5. ^ "Aeroflot case": Russian special investigator Wolkow soon in Switzerland ; swissinfo.ch, July 15, 2000
  6. ↑ UK gives Russian tycoon new name ; BBC News January 23, 2004
  7. ↑ Dirk Sager: Powder Keg Russia: Where is the Great Power Heading? , Rowohlt Verlag GmbH, 2009, ISBN 978-3-644-10011-4
  8. ↑ and Putin opponent Boris Berezovsky is dead , n-tv, March 23, 2013
  9. ↑ Call for revolution: Berezovsky wants to overthrow Putin by force ; Spiegel Online, April 13, 2007
  10. ^ Ian Cobain, Matthew Taylor, Luke Harding : “I am plotting a new Russian revolution”. London exile Berezovsky says force necessary to bring down President Putin ; The Guardian dated April 13, 2007
  11. ↑ Berezovsky and the Revolution - coup, yes, but bloodless ; sueddeutsche.de, May 17, 2010
  12. ↑ Beresovsky death: No evidence of a crime ( Memento from March 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Tagesschau (ARD) March 24, 2013, accessed on March 25, 2013
  13. ↑ Billionaire Berezovsky died in British exile ( Memento from March 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Tagesschau, March 24, 2013, accessed on March 24, 2013
  14. ↑ Police: Oligarch Berezovsky died by hanging ( memento from March 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Tagesschau March 26, 2013, accessed on March 26, 2013
  15. ↑ Berezovsky's death cannot be solved , NZZ of March 26, 2014
  16. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/28/world/europe/coroner-unable-to-establish-cause-of-russian-businessmans-death.html
  17. ↑ GREAT BRITAIN: Putin opponents murdered? In: Der Spiegel . No. 14 , 2014 ( online - March 31, 2014 ).
  18. ↑ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2590778/Boris-Berezovskys-daughter-says-feared-poisoned.html
  19. ↑ https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-high-profile-deaths-on-british-soil-with-alleged-links-to-the-kremlin
  20. ↑ Boris Abramowitsch Berezovsky ; Portrait aktuell.ru, last updated on May 6, 2010
  21. ^ Boris Berezovsky's footsteps in Switzerland , 20 minutes, March 25, 2013
  22. ↑ a b Russia: Another arrest warrant against Kremlin critic Berezovsky ; diepresse.com, August 7, 2007
  23. ↑ Forensic Medicine: Berezovsky was found hanged Die Zeit , March 26, 2013, accessed on March 26, 2013
  24. ↑ Березовский и Абрамович. Олигархи с большой дороги , Aleksandr Khinshtein
  25. ↑ Boris Berezovsky pays out £ 100m in UK's biggest divorce settlement , Owen Bowcott, The Guardian , 22 July 2011
  26. ↑ Estelle Shirbon: Berezovsky battles in court with ex-partner over assets . In: Reuters / Yahoo News , January 24, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2013. 
  27. ↑ Berezovsky court saga: Oligarch sued by ex-lover demanding millions . In: Russia Today , January 24, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2013. 
  28. ^ Susan Leckey (Ed.): The Europa Directory of Literary Awards and Prizes . Routledge , 2012, p. 536 ( full text in Google Book Search).
  29. ↑ Russian exile found dead in London. In: Spiegel Online , March 13, 2018, accessed on March 14, 2018.
  30. ↑ Reinhard Veser: The godfather, his partner - and the secret agent. In: FAZ , March 14, 2018, accessed on the same day.
  31. ↑ FAZ.net: Police: Russian businessman was murdered
personal data
SURNAME Berezovsky, Boris Abramowitsch
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Березовский, Борис Абрамович (Russian-Cyrillic); Berezovsky, Boris Abramovich (English transcription); Elenin, Plato
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian mathematician and oligarch
DATE OF BIRTH January 23, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Moscow
DATE OF DEATH March 23, 2013
Place of death Ascot