BORIS Berezovsky, the high-profile Russian oligarch who became a vociferous critic of the Kremlin from his new base in Britain, died today
A close friend confirmed to The Telegraph that Mr Berezovsky had died at his home in Ascot, Berkshire.
Police are treating in the death as unexplained and a cordon is in place around the property while detectives and forensic officers investigate.
The circumstances of the death remain unknown but the 67 year-old businessman is thought to have been found dead in his bath.
A source close to Mr Berezovsky told RIA Novosti, the Russian state news agency, that he died from a heart attack and had recently been in Israel for medical treatment.
Demyan Kudryavtsev, a business associate of the tycoon, dismissed claims that he had committed suicide, saying he had died from heart failure.
There were no external signs of suicide, no traces from needles or signs that he had taken tablets. It’s not clear why his heart stopped,” he said.
Despite this, his death will inevitably raise questions about nefarious activities because Mr Berezovsky had survived several assassination attempts, including a bomb that decapitated his chauffeur in 1994.
He was also a close friend of Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian dissident who was fatally poisoned with radioactive polonium-210 in London in 2006.
Another close friend in the “London Circle” of exiled but influential Russians is Akhmed Zakayev, who was also the subject of a plot to assassinate him on British soil.
However, there are also other more mundane possible explanations for Mr Berezovsky’s death, including financial and personal troubles, aside from accidental or natural causes.
In January it was disclosed Mr Berezovsky’s former lover Elena Gorbunova, 43, had won a £200 million freezing order on his assets after they split last year. She was seeking assets for herself and their two children from the sale of their former home in Wentworth Park, Surrey.
Lord Bell, the leading public relations and advertising expert, said: “He was a very close friend and a very nice man, very kind to me and to the people around him.”
Lord Bell said he had been told of the death this afternoon by Mr Berezovsky’s private lawyer.
An ambulance was called but paramedics were unable to revive Mr Berezovsky. News of the death was broken to friends this afternoon.
A police spokesman said: “Thames Valley Police has launched an investigation into the death of a 67 year-old man at a property in Ascot, Berkshire.
“His death is currently being treated as unexplained and a full inquiry is under way.
“The area around the property has been cordoned off to allow the investigation to take place.
“The inquiry is at a very early stage and more details will be released when available.”
A South Central Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: “We were called at 3.18 this afternoon by a caller who was concerned for the welfare of a gentleman at an address in Ascot.
“We sent a number of ambulance officers and an ambulance to the address. A 67 year-old man was confirmed dead at the scene.”
The multi-billionaire initially supported Vladimir Putin but quickly clashed with the new president and sought exile in Britain in 2000, and was granted politcal asylum three years later.
Last year Mr Berezovsky lost a case against fellow Russin businessman Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea Football Club, over claims that he was intimidated into selling shares in an oil company. He had been seeking £3 billion in damages.
Mikhail Kozyrev, a journalist who knew Mr Berezovsky well, said the businessman had always been energetic and full of plans but when they last spoke a few weeks ago, the oligarch was very depressed.
“It was as if life had already left him,” Mr Kozyrev told Moscow’s TV Rain.
“He suddenly, unexpectedly lost hope that he would ever again see his motherland, which he loved so much. He lived all the time in hope that he would return and live in Russia.”
- The Telegraph (UK)