Exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky currently resides in London
The man the late Forbes magazine journalist Paul Klebnikov referred to as "The Godfather of the Kremlin" may have pushed his luck this week, when he called for the violent overthrow of the Russian government in an interview with the UK Guardian.
Russian prosecutors have tried many times to extradite Boris Berezovsky from the UK to face fraud charges back in Russia. The British government has consistently refused these requests. As we have reported previously here at Russia Blog, after Anna Politkovskaya was murdered and Alexander Litvinenko died from radiation poisoning late last year, these extradition requests were no longer in the news.
Today the UK Foreign Office issued a statement declaring that everyone in Great Britain must abide by the laws, and that calling for the violent overthrow of a sovereign elected government is unacceptable behavior for anyone residing in the country. Fearing deportation, Berezovsky backtracked today from his radical statements, claiming that he was only advocating "direct action" and non-violent resistance to the Russian authorities. The UK Guardian interview, however, made it clear that Berezovsky advocated the use of force if necessary to topple the "Putin regime".
In light of his extreme rhetoric, shady past and close association with exiled fundraisers for Chechen terrorists, the question Russians ask is: why does anyone in the West still take this man seriously as an advocate for "freedom" and "democracy"?
A Russia Today TV news clip about "The March of Those Who Disagree"
UPDATE - Saturday, April 14, 2007: Welcome, Pajamas Media readers!
Over at the Belmont Club blog, Australian blogger Richard Fernandez (aka Wretchard the Cat) asks if there is any connection between Boris Berezovsky's call for a violent revolution earlier this week and the "Other Russia" demonstration led by former chessmaster Garry Kasparov held today in Moscow
(UPDATE2: You can now watch a Russia Today news clip about the march in the extended post)..
Russia Blog has written about Mr. Kasparov's efforts before, including his hopes for a united opposition against Putin joining Russian liberals with Russia's Communists and ultranationalists. Although Wikipedia is often not a reliable source on controversial current issues, it is noteworthy that Mr. Kasparov's Wiki page was updated today.
Boris Berezovsky is accused of inciting the violent overthrow of the Russian government, embezzling resources from Aeroflot when he owned the airline in the 1990s, and engaging in fraudulent real estate transactions (Photo by Rian.ru)
Another criminal case opened against Berezovsky
13.04.2007, 18.23
MOSCOW, April 13 (Itar-Tass) - The Russian Prosecutor General's Office opened another criminal case against Boris Berezovsky over his statements published by the newspaper Guardian.
"The Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case against Boris Berezovsky under Article 278 of Russia's Criminal Code /violent seizure of power, i.e. actions aimed at violent seizure of power in violation of the Russian Constitution, and in like manner aimed at violent change of Russia's Constitutional order" a representative of the Prosecutor General's Office told Itar-Tass.
The article qualifies such crimes as serious and very serious, and envisions a punishment of 12 to 20 years in prison.
The Prosecutor General's Office gave instructions to draft and to send to Britain an international legal inquiry, asking the British colleagues to evaluate Berezovsky's statements from the legal point of view. The inquiry will again raise the question of stripping Berezovsky of the refugee status, and of extraditing him to the Russian authorities.
In the latest development, Berezovsky, in an interview with the newspaper Guardian, stated that "we need to use force to change this regime" in Russia.
"There can be no change without force, pressure," he said.
When asked if it meant he was planning a revolution, Berezovsky answered in the affirmative.
Also on Friday, Russian prosecutors brought new charges against Berezovsky in the Aeroflot case, his lawyer Andrei Borovkov told Tass.
"A new charge of stealing and legalizing 214 million roubles of Aeroflot company money was brought against Berezovsky and Glushenkov and the other persons, already convicted in this case," Borovkov said.
"Earlier, Berezovsky figured in the case as accomplice and abettor, but now he's a perpetrator of the crime," the lawyer said.
Borovkov noted that the investigation into the case would be completed on Monday. The parties then "will begin to familiarize themselves with case materials after which the in absentia trial of Berezovsky will start."
An in absentia sentence can be passed on Boris Berezovsky in a criminal case on the theft and legalization of money of the Russian air company Aeroflot, spokeswoman for the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office, Marina Gridneva, said.
At least five criminal cases against Berezovsky were opened in Russia: two cases over actions aimed at a violent seizure of power, one over the Aeroflot money theft, one over the VAZ cars fraud and still another over the illegal acquisition of a house and land plot in the Zhukovka health center in the Moscow region.
This guy is a traitor and a criminal. If I picked up a piece of dog crap, there is where you would find Berezovsky.
He’s a runner and a failure and a scared coward because of his criminal activities. A yes man and a lap dog, like those Iraqi scientists that had all that fake wmd evidence (and for a green card, by the way). Boris Berezovsky would sell his grandmother for some western attention and a pat on the head and a table scrap. He represents the trailer trash of Russia, the sophisticated criminal, the eloquent scum bag, and the gourmet stench of Western hypocrisy that financed the Beslan school massacre.
The man thinks like Bush where he believes that his corruption is good, his lies are good. And for this reason it’s why he dreams of over throwing Vladimir Putin, because Russia has the WRONG democracy, in his brain. Never mind that Russia population gave Putin 8 years, Berezovsky wants that overruled because he’s with Western management that deems Russians are wrong, and must vote again and again and again until the right outcome is acknowledged by America.
Everyone in the west knows this guy is garbage but he’s our garbage and he promotes Western interests. I raise my glass and salute to Berezovsky, the best sewage in town.
Are there any "good" oligarchs? And how did Berezovsky get both political asylum and BRITISH CITIZENHIP? Was it the BP who was still hoping for a share in Gazprom/Rosneft? Just some random thoughts.
The New European
Transatlantic Politics
To Anonymous
I couldn't agree more. The most despicable thing is the freaking Brits and their hypocracy. Their efforts to undermine Russia date back to the time of Peter I, when Russia has build a formidable fleet and began asserting its political and economic weight. Their efforts haven't abated one bit and are now bolstered by US and A.
Giving refuge to the likes of Berezovski and Chechen scum wanted for crimes of terrorism. Russia should have given assylum to Sadam Hussein just to spite Americans and Brits, and give assylum to all their tax evaders and criminals. Self-righteous hypocritical bastards!
He's given/taken 'credo' for helping to release hostages taken in Chechnya.
This was just about the dumbest thing to do as it only fuelled a massive wave of kidnappings.
Berezovsky just can't resist poking his finger into every pie he can find, regardless of the consequences.
He still behaves as if he is above the law, yet somehow is still loved by the 'free' Media in the West.
The BBC introduces him as 'friend of Litvinenko'.
What a joke.
Actually, Russia did offer to help find asylum for Saddam. Saddam didn't want it. As far as US and UK criminals, they usually prefer to seek asylum elsewhere, for some reason.
The UK government are the biggest bunch of hypocrites on the planet. They allow any sort of terrorist/criminal asylum and keep out thousands of diaspora Scots, Welsh and Cornish the English have forced out for centuries. The Cornish are still oppressed and the UK govt refuses to include the Cornish in its human rights legislation. The Russian government should lecture Britain on its treatment of its indigenous minorities. How the &%$*$& did this turd get into the UK and thousands of indigenous descendants can't!
Hey Al,
That first post was me... forgot to type my info...
But you know, the US admires anyone that screws the Russian people... They want my mother-in-law live like crap so the US can be subsidized, well, that's an honorable thing, so those in Wash DC believe. And to that, they use colored revolutions and scum bags like Berezovsky.
It's kind of like this Wolfowitz / Riza thing, US corruption is good because it's profitable for US democracy... All these virtuoso US politicians can't produce success at home so their corruption is being exposed with such vigor and just like the massive amounts of NGO money now being blown in Russia for protests, for Western efforts to hire traitors and the unemployed in Russia in preparation of the 2008 elections... this effort of inducing a colored revolutions so that Russia can slide into the abyss that Georgia and Ukraine or Iraq are basking in and enjoying. Bush told Putin in that news conference that "just you wait and see", America will spread it's love of democracy and soon, Russia too can be like Iraq.
No matter how much money the US blows and no matter how many seminars, fast track programs, and classes in Russia on over throwing the Russian election system, the US will fail like it has in so many ways, with such predictability and such "shock and awe".
Maybe years ago, before the Internet, fiber optics, fax machines, flash mobs, ubiquitous devices (cell phone with cams / wifi) and other instant forms of communication, it was those good old days that America could BS the entire world. Today, this instant communications not only destroyed the USSR, but it is also destroying the corrupt, the corrupt that are cloaked behind US language of democracy, the corrupt cloaked behind the US flag and the corrupt cloaked behind the US Whitehouse... fake protests financed by US NGO's are as successful as Iraq. This high tech world is the back bone and the buss for killing anything that is not genuine, and whatever garbage does spew out of any US politician or NGO money is corrupt, and this high tech exposes it each and every time.
Go figure... high tech is exposing the fake, phony frauds of America's interference in Russia's democracy and it exposes fakes like Berezovsky.
I'll bet anyone here that in 2008 Russia will continue it's path of success no matter how hard the West tries to destabilize the world.
"when he called for the violent overthrow of the Russian government in an interview with the UK Guardian"
Does anyone have the link or reference to the interview in question?
here is the link to the Guardian interview:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2056322,00.html
Here's a quote from Alexander Litvinenko: Blackmailer, Smuggler, Gangster Extraordinaire:
"Berezovsky, who employed Litvinenko while he was alive and is using him in death as the symbol of Putin's malignity, is the key figure in all this: the man slain Forbes journalist Paul Klebnikov called Russia's "godfather." The real Mafia could learn a thing or two from Berezovsky, who, Klebnikov averred, assassinated his business rivals – one with an obscure nerve toxin – while the authorities stood by and let it happen on account of the oligarch's connections with top Kremlin officials.
When Putin rose to power, however, and turned against Berezovsky – his former supporter and patron – the rule of the oligarchs was over. Berezovsky, Nevzlin, and the others fled Russia, and haven't stopped plotting to discredit and ultimately overthrow their nemesis ever since."
Why chechen criminals given asylum in the uk?
Those who are against America rarbage.