Berezovsky, the former richest man in Russia and a close friend of Yeltsin, has caused chaos in Russia's economy and politics by openly confronting Putin.
In his time, he became the leader of the oligarchs economically, and also politically held the position of deputy secretary of the *** conference. However, after Putin came to power, he officially broke with Russia** and invested $1 billion in support of political organizations that oppose Putin's regime.
In the end, his fate was very miserable.
In 2000, Russia's Berezovsky supported Putin, and the two had a close relationship with Yeltsin. But what is the reason why the two sides later turned against each other?
The rise of the financial oligarchy After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian people were full of hopes and worries about the future of the country. They feared that the country would fall into the Soviet Union's old ways, while the financial oligarchy saw it as a good time for Russia to break free from the Soviet shackles and usher in rapid development.
The financial oligarchy is the name given to the big capitalists and monopolies who control Russia's huge financial capital, the lifeblood of the national economy and state power.
During the collapse of the Soviet Union, they supported Yeltsin's rule, thought they had achieved great success, and unabashedly intervened in politics. When the situation in the Russian state was turbulent, they took advantage of the monopoly of the industry, frantically amassed wealth, and sought key economic interests such as oil, gas and **, and constantly enriched their wealth.
Among them, Berezovsky is the leading figure among the oligarchs. As a child, he showed great wisdom and studied mathematics in depth, obtained a doctorate in mathematical physics from the former Soviet Union, and wrote more than 100 academic articles**.
Originally, Berezovsky's life trajectory might have been in academic research, but in the late eighties of the 20th century, when Soviet society was stagnant, the economy was in depression, and people were living in hardship, Berezovsky felt that his future was uncertain, so he turned to the business field in search of opportunities.
At a time when the Soviet Union was facing economic difficulties, Berezovsky had a discerning eye and saw the business opportunities brought about by the reforms. In 1989, he gave up his stable job and founded a car sales company, imported used cars from West Germany and resold them to the country, taking advantage of inflation and the difference between imports and exports**, earned the first large fortune in his life and became a famous car dealer in Russia.
After that, he continued to expand his business territory, invested in the establishment of Union Bank, and successfully acquired 51% of the Siberian Oil Company**, building a huge business empire.
Berezovsky amassed an astonishing fortune after the collapse of the Soviet Union, profiting from Russia's chaotic political environment. His wealth is snowballing, not only in terms of property visible to the naked eye, but also in various industries such as finance, aviation, real estate, etc., all over all walks of life in Russia.
In 1997, when Forbes selected the richest list, he was worth as much as $3 billion, making him the richest man in Russia. However, the quest for wealth is no longer his goal, and he has begun to aim for the political realm.
As his economic power grew, he gradually rose to prominence, only to be defeated by the conflict with Putin. In the second half of 1994, Berezovsky finally got the opportunity to step into the first class after several years of network expansion.
In that year, Yeltsin's godson Yumashev planned to publish "** Notes" for Yeltsin, so Berezovsky took the initiative to spend a lot of money and offered help, thus winning the favor of the other party.
Using his network resources, he gradually transformed from an oligarch in the financial field to an oligarch in the political field. To further cement the relationship, he regularly attended meetings of Yeltsin's daughter, Diachenko, and interacted with the business and political elite, and his generosity earned him a good impression on Diachenko.
This image also made him loved by Diachenko, and they quickly became good friends. Through her introduction, Yeltsin's name became known, and he soon became a regular visitor to the Kremlin.
In order to stabilize his position and make it long-lasting, he raised $500 million in campaign funds for Yeltsin in 1996 in Russia, and used the **resources in his hands to influence** and successfully helped Yeltsin be re-elected**, and the relationship between the two became closer.
Yeltsin repaid Berezovsky's help with practical actions and raised his political position to the ground. In April 1998, Berezovsky was promoted from the post of Deputy Secretary of the Conference to the Second Executive Secretary of the CIS.
However, both the financial oligarchy and the political oligarchy have brought great harm to Russia, and they are all seeking to seize Russia's public property to the detriment of the Russian people.
In this catastrophe, Berezovsky is undoubtedly the most prominent culprit. He is suspected of multiple fraud and transnational economic cases, is deeply involved in murder rumors, and even colludes with Chechen armed groups for personal gain.
In Russia in August 1998, a severe economic crisis put life in jeopardy for the Russian people. To solve this problem, Russian Prime Minister Primakov began to investigate the criminal conduct of Berezovsky's company in order to mitigate the influence of the oligarchs on politics and accelerate the recovery of the domestic economy.
This move of his infuriated Berezovsky, who used the policy of attacking Primakov and eventually led to Primakov's attack a few months later.
In this investigation, Berezovsky managed to escape with a lizard-like severed tail. In December 1999, he was appointed deputy to the 3rd State Duma of Russia, a privileged position in which he enjoyed the privilege of being largely free from detention, arrest and search.
This means that Berezovsky can avoid criminal prosecution. He believes that with this political position, he can sit back and relax and do whatever he wants. However, his past escape does not guarantee permanent safety.
In 2000, Russia's *** ended, Yeltsin could not be re-elected due to health reasons, and the ** person he strongly recommended was praised"Tough guy**"of Putin.
Putin was once a KGB leader, and his unique temperament and courage won Yeltsin's appreciation. In order to find new support, Berezovsky used ** to help Putin successfully run for office**, but he did not expect that as soon as this worker's child took office, he would set out to fight the oligarchic forces and serve the Russian people wholeheartedly.
Shortly after Putin's inauguration, he decided to hold a meeting of more than 20 oligarchs in Russia. He directly demanded that the oligarchs no longer interfere in politics and that what happened before be dismissed as history.
However, how can these oligarchs, who have managed to gain a firm foothold on the **, easily give up the interests in their hands. The meeting ended on an unhappy note, with oligarchs mocking Putin for being inadequate.
You must know that the Russian oligarchs at that time were united enough to control 50% of the economic lifeline of the entire country, and they had layouts in various fields, and it was undoubtedly a great risk to deal with them.
Berezovsky was the first to stand out against it, stepping down from his post as a member of the State Duma, openly questioning the Putin regime and lashing out at it with the loopholes in his hands.
This series of moves has made him a key target of Putin's attack.
In November 2000, the Russian Public Prosecutor's Office filed criminal charges against Berezovsky on suspicion of misappropriation of funds from Russian airlines. For a time, Berezovsky fled to Britain with $1.3 billion in assets to apply for political asylum.
In Kommersant, he openly questioned Putin**, and then successively published articles attacking Putin, hoping to return to Russia**. But his actions attracted the attention of the Russian prosecutor's office and he was wanted internationally.
Within a few years, his assets in the country were investigated by the procuratorate and eventually nationalized.
Berezovsky hated Putin, who had displaced him with an iron fist, while also pressuring other oligarchs to obediently hand over power and wealth.
Despite being in the UK, Berezovsky has not given up on revenge, spending $1 billion to fund anti-Putin political groups in an attempt to spark unrest in Russia in the hope of making a comeback.
To boost his status, he invested in the Prince of Kent's secretary and partnered with George W. Bush's younger brother to start a company. However, these efforts ended in failure, and he lost his political background to rely on, becoming a hunted sheep.
However, despite all the difficulties, Berezovsky remained uncompromising.
In 2012, Berezovsky offered a reward of 500 million rubles for Putin's arrest as a way to express his inner dissatisfaction. However, the good times were short-lived, and he almost went bankrupt because he lost two civil lawsuits.
One of them was a lawsuit against another Russian oligarch, which the court found insufficient evidence, resulting in him wasting $100 million in prosecution fees. The other was divorced from his third wife, who was sentenced to pay 2£200 million in alimony.
These two defeats left Berezovsky's wallet destitute.
At the end of 2012, he had to lay off his staff and most of the guards, sell his real estate to get by, and the once richest man in Russia faced the most difficult period of his life.
On March 23, 2013, Berezovsky died at his home in Berkshire, England. The gray-robed bishop of the Kremlin, once known as the uncrowned king of Russia, eventually died in a foreign land, and his wife was separated.
According to reports, the Russian ** department is suspected of being involved in a series of ** cases.