God bless you Stephanie! You are beam of light in a dark country of hypocrisy. Thank you very much.

Igor, SPb,

Not a single pro Berezovskiy opinion from Russia among all the comments! It reminds me of the Soviet era if/when Soviet people were asked a public opinion about anything with even a slight touch of politics they kept repeating the only "right" answer (i.e. that sanctified by the Kremlin) like parrots (if they dared to say anything)...Seems nothing has changed.

Pekka, Espoo, Finland

for those of you saying "finally" an article like this or that the brits have been duped.... you must have very limited access to british opinion.

almost no one believes anything the russians say and almost no one believes berezovsky or abramovich are good people. god only knows why they are allowed asylum here, but if it makes you feel any better we are happy to house and fund criminals from all over the world whose aim is to overthrow our own government, so it's not surprising we don't officially care too much about other governments. you wouldn't say that the british were "duped" by the likes are abu hamza, would you? frustrated by liberal officialdom, maybe.

there is no berezovsky good / russia bad position. a plague on both their houses.

jem, london, uk

I have a slight feeling that it the author of this article who has been manipulated by some of her Russian contacts... Russian Embassy, perhaps? Or other official representatives?

Because the bottom line is that Berezovsky has enough money to live anywhere he wants but he chose to come to England. Why? Let me assure you it is not because of the booming London property market or the quality of food at Marks & Spencer.

People like Boris come to England because it is a truly democratic country where they can express themselves without the fear of being prosecuted. Russia is hating this fact and is using everything at its disposal to assasinate both the character of the Russian dissidents living in the UK and the core democratic values of this coutry.

Sergei Cristo, Surrey, UK

Superb article. One only has to suck up to our government and they'll pamper you with British passports and more. I wouldn't be supprised if Boris Berezovsky had done what Indian tycoon Lakshmi Mittal had done (donation of £2 million to the Labour Party)

Jake, London, UK

A rare voice of reason... Good work indeed, Stephanie!

Stanislav, Moscow, ex-Berezovia

Such a pleasure!!! Very nice indeed!!! I do hope he will be extradited one day to be held responsible for what he did. THY

Anton, Moscow,

Thank you very much,
to me it is a real shame that russia, with all its history, culture, traditions and educated people is reduced to a periah state status in the eyes of the european people by the likes of berezovsky. Berezovsky made his fortunes by stealing from the russian state and people (just read Paul Khlebnikov, US investigative journalist who published a book on the matter), I know people who have first hand knowledge of his involvement in kidnapping people in chechnya and this are just a few of his career highlights. Can such a person really be a human rights fighter and a convicted democrat when he himself testified that he did not support any charities in russia in the 1990s when he made his billions while common people had no food to feed their children.

Oleg, London,

Interesting to see the comments from Russia. Wake up my dear compatriots. You think you hate Berezovsky because your TV has been feeding you with the horror stories of him stealing cash from the country's coffers to divert attention from the fact that this is exactly what the current Kremlin tenants have been engaging in over the last few years.
And is there more than a hint of anti-semitism in that as well I wonder?
The fact that he may not be the most likeable of characters does not automatically imply that he's a villain. And if I had to choose between believing Mr. B or Mr. Putin and his gang, I know which side I would be on. And perhaps the very reason why Putin is fighting Berezovsky is that otherwise he would be too much like B himself?
As for Stephanie, well done darling, you have gone against the grain which proves what we in this country have always been good at. But it's everyone's personal choice to pick sides and sorry Stephanie, I can't be on yours on this one.

Sasha, London, UK

Its a reall fact that British authorities are pretty much interested in Berezovsky disstabilizing actions against Russia and its current government. Actualy it seems to be obvious that huge investments from different groups of well-known oligarchs are put into NGOs in order to provoke great political crisis. In this case Russias political authorities aim must be thorough control of every every kind of internal financial investments. At least it will help to control the situation.

Alexander, Belarus, Minsk,

Its a reall fact that British authorities are pretty much interested in Berezovsky disstabilizing actions against Russia and its current government. Actualy it seems to be obvious that huge investments from different groups of well-known oligarchs are put into NGOs in order to provoke great political crisis. In this case Russias political authorities aim must be thorough control of every every kind of internal financial investments. At least it will help to control the situation.

Alexander, Minsk, Belarus

My disagreement with author is the fact that how bad or good Mr. Berezovsky's past was it is not yet being proven in British Court of Law that he had violated any standing conditions on asylym. This is the same Law that grants and protects liberties of media that we have just enjoyed. Would it be any different I am absolutely sure Mr. Berezovsky would have been sent back. I do not see any problem with Mr. Berezovsky's access to public media to express himself like many other politicians, celebrities and not so famous or loved individuals do.

This what makes Britain to be known for: liberal, tolerant and just.

Oleg, Racine, US

James Roberts: the fact remains that due to our completely FREE press we have a more complete picture of what is really going on.

You mention that you are insulted by comments of some Russians, but do not notice that your post is quit insulting to Russians. You might be surprised but most of the Russian newspapers are FREE. Furthermore UK's press is available to Russians, but Russian point of view rairly reach UK as it is.

Pedestrian, Fukuoka, Japan

Thank you very much for thougtful article Stefanie! Promoting Berezovskiy PR tricks undoubtedly shall serve British interests in relationship with Russia. Some people in the UK just do not want to improve relationship with Russia at expense of loosing some share with the US.

Konstantin, Kiev, Ukraine

Kara Swart, London, UK said:

"By continuing with his grudges he put British citizens and British business interests at risk."

This is Britain Kara and in this country, unlike in Russia, we are free to criticise whomever we choose whenever we choose without the fear of being killed hanging over our heads. Our government doesnt send murderers and hitmen to other people's countries to assassinate their citizens if they dont like what they are saying.

There are a lot of Russian people on this comments page being very insulting towards the British people (gullible, stupid etc.) but the fact remains that due to our completely FREE press we have a more complete picture of what is really going on, hence we get an article like this one which goes against the general consensus of the rest of the british press. And as an added bonus Stefanie isnt going to get shot in the head in a lift for writing it (unless of course someone in the Kremlin sends another murderer here to do it).

James Roberts, Manchester, UK

Good job, Stephanie!


I've never met Berezovsky. But you definitely expressed those feelings of doubt and confusion many people experienced every time one finds media screaming about Berezovsky vs. Russia

Thanks for shifting the point from Berezovsky vs. Putin and pointing exactly on the root of the issue - it seem that Berezovsky vs. Putin turning into Berezovsky vs. Russa which start paying back in Britain vs. Russa which is probably the best mr. Berezovsky is hoping for.

igor, born is russia, living in usa

igor, seattle, usa

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Asta Dzelzyte, London,

It's very delightful to see that the oldest and most respectful newspaper in the UK shows how dirty politics make a hero of an ordinary lawbreaker Berezovsky. Now he is wanted by the russian and brasil courts, what country will be next?

Temuujin, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

>While he may not be a good man (and I agree with comments below about whether he should have been granted citizenship in the first place), Stefanie's dismissal of the assassination attempt is far too glib.

Oh, I'm sure quite a lot of people want Mr. Elenin dead. And not all of them are Russian presidents.
Another funny part about that is that the accused fella was extradited back to Russia without any information from British officials passed to Russians. So, nobody knows who he was. If he, indeed, was.

Alex, Houston, TX

Please, it's a shame for a paper with such a long history of excellent journalism to print such a crap. Pardon my French!

Misha Tavkhelidze, Tbilisi, Georgia

When will people understand that "expensive" is simply a relative term. Stuff becomes expensive when you cannot afford it - and in Britain, perhaps the fact that people cannot afford things is a consequence of the other "fact" you cite: that Britain is proud of being "one of the fattest, unhappiest and drunkest" places. If people were more energetic, positive and sober, they might be more productive and entrepreneurial. Then maybe they would be able to afford the things that are fast becoming inaccessible to people who insist on being provided for.

Nick, Rotherham, UK

I agree with the above comments and commend the author, Stefanie Marsh, for breaking apart from European media's group-think. Bravo!

Pavel, Pittsburgh, USA

Hi, Stefanie
Think of Berezovskiy as a tool: if he is welcomed in Britain than someone is making a good use of it. No need to be embarrassed at all!
Best regards

Vladislav Babin, Moscow, Russia

Thank you very much, Sefanie!
Hope, your article helps British nation (British goverment) to get personal opinion, but not that is being shown (paid) on the media about Russia in general, as a country, as the whole natoin, usually.
Berezovskiy is a clever person, but he uses his cleverness in a wrong way, only to bring his desires in reality to get satisfired that "I've done them again ". Has he done us again, I should re-asked? British people is always known as a people of dood sense - "think and try to sort out first". It's a pity to see this situation, when we are turning into such sort of people as a proverb says about: "Jack of all trades, but master of none".
Or are there in both parlaments some people who's been paid for this funny play?
Who'll win?
Let's think first, ladies and gentlemen. With the best will in the world to be tolerant at all cases let's nobody makes us to dance to his tune.
Thank you.

Denis, London,

Hello!
Enjoyed your article. So this is what you're doing these days. Look forward to reading more.

Chloe Arnold, Moscow, Russia

I'm really impressed! Finally, something reasonable, thoughtful and sensible comes out from the European mass media on this issue. The article which is really worth to read and spread through other media channels not just in GB but in other European countries. It is as a cold shower for naive fans of Mr. BAM. Bravo!

Tatiana, Oslo, Norway

Well, you see out of the comments that at least these words of the author:

"Ask anyone in his homeland about how popular he is there and they’ll tell you that he is almost universally loathed."

are perfectly true :-)

Thank you, Stefanie, for strengthening my belief in the authentically independent journalism under the present conditions. And thanks to the editor-in-chief who has published this article.

Artyom, Moscow, Russia

“It’s not clear what exactly his aim in life now is, other than to destabilise Russia or dream idly of using “force to change this regime”. To that end, he seems to realise how susceptible we British are to a bit of prejudiced speculation. Say bad things about the Kremlin and, parrot-like, British journalists and intelligence agents will start talking about the “new cold war”.”

Does the author believe that prejudiced speculation on the part of the British public helps keep the idle dreams alive? Or are we to infer that British journalists talking cold war somehow contribute to the destabilisation of Russia? Russia can manage _that_ all by itself thank you very much.

“Berezovsky obtained British citizenship after he changed his name to Platon Elenin. Why he changed it has never been explained.”

The harder to play the gullible Brits, no doubt.

Vladimir, Amsterdam,

The article certainly raises a point: Berezovsky is very adept at playing the media, but the fact that there are Scotland Yard officers sitting alongside him in the Sky News press interview seems to convey legitimacy to what he is saying, and is quite a SCARY thing! Berezovsky is a self-confessed crook! btw Berezovsky owned a channel called "ORT", Open Russian Television (not OTV, check your sources).
Interestingly, there was no coverage of the news about the recent assassination attempt on Berezovsky in the Russian official media, only some information on Ekho Moskvy radiostation, so the average non-English-reading Russian citizen has no clear idea about this recent Berezovsky affair, or about anything else controversial and damaging to the regime. There were/are blockages of information and censures on official TV and in the newspapers within Russia regarding many issues, including opposition rallies/politicians, so "asking ordinary Russian citizens" about anything is pointless.

Katie, Aberdeen,

“Ask anyone in his homeland about how popular he (Berezovsky) is there and they’ll tell you that he is almost universally loathed.”
Ask anyone in his homeland about how popular he (Stalin) is there and they’ll tell you that he is almost universally admired.
“Say bad things about the Kremlin and, parrot-like, British journalists and intelligence agents will start talking about the “new cold war”. Are you British, Stefanie? Well, probably not. You are Kremlin.

Freerk de Boer, Amsterdam, Holland

I only wonder why such articles are not on the front page of Times :)

John Dark, South Kensington, London,

Thank you very much Stefanie!!!!!

Svetlana, Moscow, Russia

Nice story!
Why You prefer these riff-raff and dregs, there in Britain ?
What all these pagans should do in England to understand who are they ?

DG, Moscow, Russia

All my greetings for you, Stephanie!
I only want to ask the Brits - DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE the Russian counter-espionage which has the rich experience to run spy wars, could be blundered with polonium in such a silly way??? Please, scrub Mr Berezovsky once again - who knows, maybe you'll find out sometning new? :-)
Pardon me my Russian English :-)

Dmitry, Samara, Russia

Let me take a bow, Stephanie!
I only want to ask the Brittish society - DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE the Russian counter-espinage which has the rich experience to run spy wars, could be blundered with polonium in such a silly way??? Please, scrub mr Berezovsky once again - who knows, maybe you'll find something new?
Pardon my Russian English)

Dmitry, Samara, Russia

Thank you, Stefanie Marsh! Good job. Well done!

Viktor Nikitin, Moscow, Russia

If he won't play a role of political emigrant, GB will aforced to extradite him to Russia, so he's trying so much to play it well. And, yeah, article like this now is rather exception in West media. And this is no coincidence.

Alex, Moscow, Russia

Thanks for showing the rest of the world the TRURH which EVERYONE in Russia knows!!!

Konstantin, Volgograd, Russia,

Stehanie's very good work!!
I think, that you have opened eyes to inhabitants of the Great Britain. I think, it is a shame to the some that Berezovsky is the citizen of your country! O.... Pardon.... Platon Elenin :-)

Sergey, St.-Petersburg, Russia

Thank you Stefanie.

Really nice article, at least everything shown from another point of view.

Dmitry, Moscow, Russia

Thanks, Stephanie.
The image of Boris Abramovich depicted in your very good article is much closer to the original than all the previous press about him in the UK.
To us, the Russians, this is no news. I only wonder, didn't you really know what he was before? Thanks anyway.

Valery, Krasnodar, Russia

Thank you for the truthful article. It is true voice of reason.

Mikhail, Moscow, Russia

Thanks for clause! I read inopressa and to me very much it is not pleasant, when abroad about us write badly and often and not the truth. Your clause directly as a ray of light in darkness. I was not too lazy to find the original of clause and to leave the gratitude. Once again thanks. I apologize for my English.

Nikolay, Astrakhan, Russia

Thank you.
Reading the articles that published in timesonline I always think about obvious things authors have forgotten to mention or shut their eyes to Berezovskiy's "achievements" so I am glad to know that in the UK you have someone who can express other opinion. The very thing I liked in article is your suggestion to ask Russian people about Berezovskiy

Ivan, Moscow,

Some good points here, but can I ask who is this 'we'? Don't mistake the nonsense some of your fellow journalists write on this matter for the view of a wider 'we'. Since when did the average Brit worship at the feet of oligarchs?

Adam Neilson, Birmingham,

Stefanie wants us sacked, and we are not even Russian oligarchs. But the National Consumer Council (NCC) is a force for shoppers and better value for money. Compare us with Ireland, where a report has concluded that a major reason that it has the highest prices in Europe is because it lacked a national consumer agency to raise the voice of consumers in the way NCC has done in the UK. Outside of Stefanie's London, our campaign on affordable credit should cut £350 million off the bills of two million people on a lower-income that use doorstep credit. Across the country, we helped to cut £29 per bill off water charges in the last price round, though there is far more to do on water, rail and housing. In short, shoot us and watch the consumer bills rise.

Ed Mayo, London, UK

What amazes me is the behaviour of Litvinenko. Having received British citizenship, why the hell did he continue with his Russian grudges? He was expected to start on a clean slate here. By continuing with his grudges he put British citizens and British business interests at risk.

Kara Swart, London, UK

While he may not be a good man (and I agree with comments below about whether he should have been granted citizenship in the first place), Stefanie's dismissal of the assassination attempt is far too glib.

News about the attempt did not exclusively come from Berezovsky. He may have tried to get the most from it, but the fact remains there was strong enough police suspicion to deport a man. Also, the only reason he was not in London at the time was because he had been warned by the police.

Another of her points that does not stand up is the idea that he represents no threat to Putin. Berezovsky has huge wealth which, even without popularity, could be a threat, through funding opposition groups for example.

James, London,

Finally at least somebody in Britain started to understand whats happening

Rostov, Brussels,

Thank you for your courage, Stefanie Marsh!

Troper, Tallahassee,

I lived and worked in Moscow from 1992 to 2006. I was then a close witness of how Russia was privatized. I think you have been very restrained in your comments about Boris Abramovich !
By the way everyone in Russia thinks he could not cope with being out of media sight and simply went crazy...

Now I am a consultant in cross cultural management, specialized on Russia. I'll show your article to some of my clients.

Thank you Stefanie !

Denys, Paris,

bravo Stefanie! I also would not say that the Russian businessmen are the best ones, but what concerns of Beresovsky, it is really odious person… You know, if you want to compare the Putin with other presidents of Russia, he is the one best of the worst ones. Mr. Beresovsky is the one worst of the bad enough guys… Nobody is perfect, but some people are little bit worse :)

andrey, duss, germany

Spot on about Berezovsky. Thank you so much for it.

natasha, moscow,

Good to see that even under present circumstances in Britain there are still journalists capable of using both the typing machine and the common sense. Encouraging...

Thanks, Stefanie. Enjoyed almost every word of it.

Val Komissarov, St. Petersburg, Russia

Bravo Stephanie!
But be careful, watch your back!
Remember Paul Klebnikov.

shay, boston, usa/ma

Thank you very much Stefanie. Very good job. All what you have said is true.

Jelena, Camberley, England

Thank god for Stefanie Marsh I was begining to think that every journalist in the UK was on the Berezovski payroll.
Send him back and normalise relations with Russia.

Steve Byrne, Derby, UK

Finally, the first sane article on the issue of Berezovsky on this website. If you want to know some truth about this monstrous manipulator I would recommend reading american journalist Paul Klebnikov's (RIP) "Godfather of the Kremlin".

Kevin, Los Angeles, USA

In reply to bonch I think many brits are better at reading between the lines if not off the page than they are given credit for. If a bomb goes or somone is found dead, it is pretty much assumed it was an inside job. As for the humilation I quite agree.

D. Stanley, Gourge, France

Finally someone using their heads before publishing an opinion.

Andreas, London, UK

"The last half year has been A NEVER ENDING INTELLECTUAL HUMILIATION and EMBARRASSMENT OF THE UK."

That's been going on for decades ever since the left fell in love with "Uncle Joe". Still Stefanie Marsh knows that in England journalists can still get life insurance and in Russia they cannot even find their killers.

ToMTom, Leeds, England

To Dima, Darwin, Australia

Whilst I read Stefanie Marsh's article with interest, and certainly independently thought that there is more to the Litvinenko story than is generally reported in the poorly researched UK media (not least because both Beresovsky's and Ambromovich's dubious attainment of Russia's crown jewels i.e. its oil, is in my view a crime in itself, but I'm afraid you only have Yeltsin ergo yourselves to blame for that fiasco), the political/legal situation remains the same. Lugovoi can only be tried in the UK because a. Litvinenko was a British citizen, and b. the crime was committed on UK, not Russian territory. However I do have sympathy for the view (if this is possible) in revoking Berezovsky's asylum status and British citizenship, however I fear that for all the wrong reasons UK based human rights groups will vigorously oppose this, as it would require a permanent change in the law, and have ongoing consequences.

Stephanie, London, England

This should not be allowed, it seems perfectly obvious to me that the hard line Muslins want to make a statement to the world about the Islamisation of Britain

paul, Sth London,

Marsh means in Russian: march! And Marsh did ended marched with this classic piece of disinformation. Was Litvnenko’s murder also concocted by sly Berezovsky?

Iarbarea, London,

Thank you for the article, Berezovsky indeed playing us.

Peter, NYC, US

Completely agree with Iosif and want to add my "thank you" - Stefanie, yours is the first sane article on the affair I've read in weeks.

Alex, Montreal, Canada

And the British foreign office and the new silly foreign
minister jump up and down because Russia won't
deport Lavenko when will they stop acting like idiots.

Barry Holmes, Christchurch, New Zealand

Good job Stefanie, very balanced article.

Maxim, Moscow, Russia

From all accounts (and not just this one) Mr Berezovsky is far from being a model citizen. Perhaps the best thing would be to send him off to Brazil, so that he can be put on trial there.

John Reid, Wellington, New Zealand

I think you'll find that the first source of the story was a police leak to the Sun.

Anne Lane, London, UK

It does seem odd that we granted him asylum, I can only assume he has some influential friends here. Whether he is guilty or not of the Kremlin's charges, it seems he is more trouble than he is worth and is a continuing liability. I think our relationship with Moscow is more important than his protection. He did make off with a large chunk of the state's assets, so he is no saint...

Rebecca, Bournemouth ,

All the Oligarchs acquired their wealth in dubious fashion. It is a shameful thing that Brown's Treasury welcomed them to Britain with open arms without any ethical considerations intervening.

But then again, Britain has happily allowed third world dictators to buy property in London for years. In many ways, London is the money laundering capital of the world

AA, New York,

Stefanie, thank God, at last one NON-ZOMBIE is here. This is actually about the first intelligent comment coming from GB in half a year. As a matter of fact, your country has never fallen that low in my eyes as during the whole Litivnenko affair - low in terms of intellect. During the Soviet times we also believed in all kindof bull...t but the DIFFERENCE was critical: INFORMATION. Namely - we had only one official source of information whcih was strictly watched and scrutinized non-stop - this is our - Russians' - excuse for believing in a "good and kind" Lenin, in the "saviour" Stalin, in communsim,etc. But now you -ALL SOURCES OF INFORMATION IN THE WORLD AT YOUR HANDS -HAVE NO EXCUSE WHATSOEVER for letting yourself be turned into media fodder, real ZOMBIES - who BUY into whatever your government or mass media choose to feed you. The last half year has been A NEVER ENDING INTELLECTUAL HUMILIATION and EMBARRASSMENT OF THE UK. YOU as a nation HAVE BEEN HAD and blatantly USED. Wake up!

bonch, moscow, russia

Stefanie Marsh,

Thank you for a very well written and balanced article about Boris Berezovski. Mr Berezovski is the face of misery for millions of people in Russia and his actions, when proven amount to no less than genocide. I have little doubt that he is a key player behind the Lugovoi death and when Britain finally does the right thing and hands him back to Russia (unless he disappears to another hideout) yes, Britain will have egg on its face. Still, nobody died from that and eventually relations with Russia will return to normal. By the way, Akhmed Zakaev is no less innocent when it comes to wrong doings, so send him back as well! Do the honourable thing Britain and get over your hatred of Russia. The world has moved on.

Dima, Darwin, Australia

I happened to watch this russian rogue on some program hosted by a character called dimbleby and what stood out was the fact that the audience were spellbound by what he said, which always was painting uk as the righteous heaven and everything in russia as hell..I suppose he said everything to make the british feel good about themselves, I am sure he does not care a damn about uk nor freedom......he is just playing you guys for suckers......almost succeeding in fooling all the people all the time.

Dennis, chicago, usa

Re: Stefanie Marsh about Berezovskiy

It is very nice and reassuring to know that among all this hysteria about the new "cold war" there are clever columnists who are not afraid to look at things form a realistic angle.
Thanks for not thinking that we are all stupid. The only regret is that the majority of readers is so brainwashed that such sober views might have a very little impact

Iosif, London,