The circumstances of his death were unclear, though there were unconfirmed claims that the former power-broker of Russian politics had killed himself at the property in Ascot.
In an interview with Forbes Russia magazine on the eve of his death, Berezovsky said he had lost “meaning” from his life and wanted to return to Russia. He said he had “underestimated how important” Russia was to him, and he felt uncomfortable as an immigrant in Britain.
Berezovsky is believed to have written to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, recently to float the idea of going back to his homeland. If he did, he said, he had no interest in engaging in politics and would focus on science.
Last year, Berezovsky lost a high-profile civil court case against another Russian oligarch, Roman Abramovich. The case, the largest civil court case in British history, reportedly put Berezovsky in a bad spot, as it had damaged his reputation and hurt him financially. At the time of the ruling, the judge said this about Berezovsky: “I found Mr Berezovsky an unimpressive, and inherently unreliable, witness, who regarded truth as a transitory, flexible concept, which could be moulded to suit his current purposes.”
Russian tycoon found dead in UK home
AP:Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, 67, was found dead at his home in England on Saturday. Police are treating his death as unexplained and investigating further.
Berezovsky, who at one time held significant political clout, fled Russia after a bitter falling out with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Photo: Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky leaves after losing his court battle against Roman Abramovich, at a division of the High Court in London in August 2012. (Neil Hall / Reuters)
It’s worth noting that Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian secret service agent who died of polonium-210 poisoning in 2006, had significant ties to Berezovsky, visiting the exiled tycoon’s offices in the hours after his poisoning—and in 2010, Berezovsky won a libel suit against Russian media outlets that accused him of being tied to Litvinenko’s death. With Berezovsky’s unexplained” death, the added context is worth noting.
Vladimir Putin and Steven Seagal at a martial arts school on the outskirts of Moscow, to promote healthy lifestyles. The film star acted as the Russian president’s bodyguard in what seemed like a choreographed move.
Photograph: Alexei Nikolsky/AFP/Getty Images
soulmates
Putin with his Bond villan.
Vladimir Putin has reached back to Joseph Stalin’s era for a plan to improve Russians’ physical fitness, appearing with the film actor Steven Seagal at an event aimed at promoting healthy lifestyles among young people.
In a meeting at a martial arts school on Moscow’s outskirts, Putin called for physical education rooted in a Soviet-era system.
“I think it would be quite appropriate to recall the positive experience of past decades when the so-called GTO, Ready for Labour and Defence, was in use in our country,” he said. The GTO mass physical training programme was introduced in the 1930s under Stalin.
All of the jokes that could be made about this aside (Steven Seagal? Really?), while we certainly support the idea of improving children’s physical health, we’re not sure why a new program couldn’t have been created to serve this purpose. Even if there’s nothing malevolent going on behind-the-scenes, reviving a program first created by Joseph Stalin just doesn’t look good.
I want to be an ambassador of democracy to the world. Russia is a country with a great democracy.French actor Gerard Depardieu • Discussing his move to Saransk, Russia—at the address 1 Democracy Street. Depardieu, who has become more known in recent months for his role in a controversy over tax exiles than his role with Katherine Heigl in “My Father the Hero,” claims he did not leave the country to escape the country’s proposed tax rate on the rich. One of the ironies of Depardieu’s statement is that Saransk is located in a part of Russia, Mordovia, known for its prison camps. One of the members of Pussy Riot, in fact, is serving time there.
(Source: bigstory.ap.org)
Syrian leaders should be brought before the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face justice for murder and torture, UN investigators urged on Monday as the EU renewed its blanket arms embargo on both sides in Syria’s bloody conflict.
Britain, however, secured the agreement of its partners to make it easier to supply “non-lethal” equipment and training to maintain security in rebel-held areas, which was not previously possible. But it had not sought agreement to send weapons, Whitehall officials insisted, rejecting claims from Brussels that it had.
Unfortunately, efforts to bring justice to the Syrian leadership loyal to President Bashar al-Assad are unlikely to go anywhere, because they requires the full support of the UN Security Council’s five permanent members. Considering Russia and China’s previous reluctance to support Western intervention in Syria, it’s unlikely that either will suddenly be supportive of charging the Assad regime with war crimes.
AFP: The body of a kidnapped Russian lawmaker has been found in a cement-filled barrel in a cellar outside Moscow, investigators said Monday.
‘The body of Mikhail Pakhomov, a lawmaker from Lipetsk city council, has been found in one of the cellars of a private garage in a metal barrel filled with cement,’ the Investigative Committee said in a statement.
Yes, stuff like this still happens in 2013. It’s pretty messed up, wouldn’t you say?
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When a small piece of rock would fall on the Earth 100 years ago it could have caused minimal damage and would have stayed largely undetected, but Friday’s accident fully demonstrated how vulnerable the technological civilization of today has become. It is high time Russia should start heavily investing in building an advanced space danger monitoring and warning system and above that a system capable of destroying such super bombs falling on us from the skies.Moscow State University’s Vladimir Lipunov • Discussing, in his role as head of the school’s Space Monitoring Laboratory, why more must be done to protect people from chunks of rock falling out of the sky. “We should be thankful to fate that this meteor in fact was a blessing in disguise and instead of destroying a significant part of Russia with quite dire consequences to the rest of the world, it sent us a clear warning signal by simply blowing up a bunch of windows and lightly injuring over one thousand people,” he added. Other scientists, as well, are arguing that yesterday’s meteorite incident is worth adding fresh layers of protection—despite, well, the incidents being relatively infrequent.
A hero amongst men
via @jaredbkeller
Just a reminder that heroes live forever, but legends never die
Friends don’t let friends register parody accounts.
The trail of a falling object is seen above a residential apartment block in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk, Russia, where a meteorite flared spectacularly in the sky.
From Meteorite explosion over Russia – in pictures
Photograph: Reuters
There was an apartment building that had a ton of windows blown out by the meteorite.
Imagine driving around and seeing something like that. And, conveniently, having a camera running in your car.
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