Boris Abramovich Berezovsky (, ; 23 January 1946 – 23 March 2013), also known as Platon Elenin, was a Russian business oligarch, government official, engineer and mathematician. He was a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and held the federal state civilian service rank of 1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation.
Berezovsky had an estimated net worth of $3 billion in 1997, which he amassed through the privatisation of state property in the early 1990s, most notably the main television channel, Channel One. By the time of his death in 2013, however, he was impoverished and severely depressed, having lost a series of legal battles against his former friend Roman Abramovich, been forced to sell assets, and undergone a costly divorce settlement with his former wife. Berezovsky helped fund Unity to secure Vladimir Putin's election, in the expectation that the status quo and the influence of the oligarchs would be preserved. He was elected to the State Duma in the 1999 Russian legislative election, standing as a Putin loyalist. Following the 2000 Russian presidential election, however, Putin consolidated power and became increasingly autocratic, demanding the loyalty of all oligarchs; Berezovsky then went into opposition and resigned from the Duma. He remained 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 remained abroad and moved to the United Kingdom, which granted him political asylum in September 2003. After his departure, the Russian government took over his television assets, and he divested from other Russian holdings. In Russia, Berezovsky was convicted in 2007, following a trial in absentia, of fraud and embezzlement. The first charges had been brought during Yevgeny Primakov's government in 1999. Despite an Interpol Red Notice for his arrest, Russia repeatedly failed to secure his extradition from Britain; the situation became a major point of diplomatic tension between the two countries.
In late 2011, an Israeli private investigator ordered the mercenary Indian hack-for-hire firm Appin to hack Berezovsky and his lawyers. In 2012, Berezovsky lost a High Court case he brought over the ownership of the major oil producer Sibneft, against Roman Abramovich, 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 at his home, Titness Park, at Sunninghill, near Ascot in Berkshire, on 23 March 2013. A post-mortem examination found that his death was consistent with hanging and that there were no signs of a violent struggle. The coroner at the inquest into his death subsequently recorded an open verdict.
Early life, scientific research and engineering experience Boris Abramovich Berezovsky was born in 1946, in Moscow, to Abram Markovich Berezovsky (1911–1979), an Ashkenazi Jewish civil engineer in construction works,Vadim Joseph Rossman and the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism. Russian Intellectual Antisemitism in the Post-Communist Era (2002). University of Nebraska Press: pp. 120–1. and his wife, Anna Aleksandrovna Gelman (22 November 1923 – 3 September 2013). He studied applied mathematics, and received a doctorate in 1983. After graduating from the Moscow Forestry Engineering Institute in 1968, Berezovsky worked as an engineer from 1969 until 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. Berezovsky researched optimization and control theory, publishing 16 books and articles between 1975 and 1989. After graduation, he got a job by distribution. Berezovsky later stated that he disliked his initial job, although appreciated his academic entourage that "shaped his personality".Березовский. Первое интервью. 1996 год
As a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he did not act as a political dissident. Yet, he disagreed with the official ideology, and sought to exploit his membership for career growth, that helped him to "intuitively compensate" lack of scientific talent.
Political and business career in Russia Accumulation of wealth Alexander Khinshtein (State Duma deputy, member of the United Russia faction) claimed that in 1979 Boris Berezovsky was detained by the OBKhSS authorities in Makhachkala (Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) for profiteering. In Khinshtein's opinion, Berezovsky has been a KGB officer since 1979.
In 1989, Berezovsky took advantage of the opportunities presented by perestroika to found LogoVAZ () with Badri Patarkatsishvili and senior managers from Russian automobile manufacturer AvtoVAZ. LogoVAZ developed software for AvtoVAZ, sold Soviet-made cars, and serviced foreign cars. The dealership profited from hyperinflation 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 (Boris Yeltsin's future Chief of Staff) and AvtoVAZ 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.
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 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 TV Channel 1. He appointed the popular anchorman and producer Vladislav Listyev 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.
From 1995 to 1997, through the controversial loans-for-shares privatisation auctions, Berezovsky and Patarkatsishvili assisted Roman Abramovich in acquiring control of Sibneft, the sixth-largest Russian oil company, which constituted the bulk of his wealth. In an article in The Washington Post in 2000, Berezovsky revealed that financier George Soros 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 becoming Aeroflot's CFO. In January 1998, it was announced that Sibneft would merge with Mikhail Khodorkovsky's Yukos to create the third-largest oil company in the world."Oil Merger Creates New Russian Giant, Fuels A Trend" Chicago Tribune 20 January 1998 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, the President's ghost-writer.Stephen Kotkin. "What stands in the way of Russia is Russia. Putin and Other Parasites" The New Republic 5 June 2000
In January 1996, at the World Economic Forum 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. On his return to Moscow, Berezovsky met and befriended Tatyana Dyachenko, Yeltsin's daughter, According to a later profile by The Guardian, "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, opposing a group of hardliners led by General Alexander Korzhakov. 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."Yeltsin fires 3 hard-line officials Internal struggle leaves security chief as 2nd most powerful" The Baltimore Sun 21 June 1996 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, who finished third. On 3 July, in the runoff vote, he beat the Communist Gennady Zyuganov. 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 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 from the position of National Security Advisor amid allegations that he was plotting a coup and secretly mustering a private army."Chernomyrdin Intervenes in Kulikov-Lebed Feud, Lebed Appeals to Yeltsin" The Jamestown Foundation Monitor. Vol. 2, Issue 194, 17 October 1996 Lebed promptly accused Berezovsky and Gusinsky of engineering his ouster, and formed a coalition with the disgraced General Alexander Korzhakov. 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 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: 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."Raduev Releases Hostages" The Jamestown Foundation Monitor. Vol. 2, Issue 237, 19 December 1996
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 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."Berezovsky Announces Steps Toward Economic Reconstruction of Chechnya" The Jamestown Foundation Monitor. Vol. 3, Issue 95, 14 May 1997