GEORGIA’S richest man is to run for president to remove “the fascist regime” of Mikhail Saakashvili, leader of the tiny former Soviet republic.

Badri Patarkatsishvili, the billionaire businessman who helped to finance the “rose revolution” that swept Saakashvili to power four years ago, made his declaration after special forces stormed the studios of his television station for criticising the president.

“My election slogan will be ‘Georgia without Saakashvili is Georgia without terror’, he said.

Speaking at the Israeli resort of Eilat, overlooking the Red Sea, as he fielded calls with the latest news from Georgia, Patarkatsishvili warned that he would invest his considerable resources in opposing Saakashvili, whose pro-western views have made him popular in Washington.

“I’ve money, popularity and a powerful media outlet. I’ll use all my strength to free Georgia from this dictatorial junta,” he said in an interview as his private jet remained on standby, ready to fly him back to Tbilisi at a moment’s notice.

“I’ve achieved much in life and don’t need to prove anything, so I don’t have political ambitions per se. But after this shameful crackdown [that] Saakashvili launched against a peaceful opposition I’m ready to do anything, even run for president, if it helps my country.

Earlier, Saakashvili – whose ambition for Georgia to join Nato has made him deeply unpopular in the Kremlin – had cracked down hard on antigovernment protests in Tbilisi. Turning on tens of thousands of demonstrators with water cannons, rubber bullets, tear gas and batons, Georgian riot police dispersed crowds with a brutality not seen before under the charismatic young president.

Members of the opposition were arrested, more than 600 protesters were taken to hospital and special forces officers broke into Imedi TV, a channel founded by Patarkatsishvili and co-owned by News Corporation, which also owns The Sunday Times.

Staff were forced to lie on the floor while much of the network’s equipment was vandalised. The channel has since been off the air.

Saakashvili, who became president after 1m people took to the streets to oust Eduard Shevard-nadze, announced a two-week state of emergency, claiming it was needed to prevent a Russian-backed coup attempt.

Seeking to appease his critics, Saakashvili announced early parliamentary elections in January. Georgian troops were out in force on the streets of Tbilisi yesterday to prevent further demonstrations.

At the height of the protests Patarkatsishvili, who divides his time between Tbilisi and a mansion in Surrey, flew in from London to address the crowds chanting his name. He then left for Eilat “to avoid creating even more tension by being in Tbilisi”, he said.

Last week the Georgian authorities stepped up their pressure on him by launching a criminal investigation on suspicion that he had sought to overthrow the government. “They are doing everything to stop me from running for president. They are scared,” the tycoon said.

Patarkatsishvili, who is Jewish, recalled his sense of optimism when he helped Saakashvili win power. He was close to Zurab Zhvania, an ally of the president, who became prime minister but mysteriously died of carbon monoxide poisoning in 2005.

“I really felt that democracy had won,” said Patarkatsishvili. “I was convinced that at last we had a group of young people in power who would rebuild Georgia – that’s why I helped them financially. Sadly it all changed when Zhvania died.

“Saakashvili has turned into a despot. He doesn’t tolerate any opposition and he has created a deeply corrupt elite. In Georgia there’s terrible unemployment, no independent judiciary and people have seen their property expropriated by the state. Last week’s events have shown his true face.” Patarkatsishvili, 52, said he had decided to help to finance the country’s weak and divided opposition, a move that was welcomed by the US State Department, but which he said had turned him into a public enemy in the eyes of the 39-year-old president.

Opposition forces last month formed a shaky coalition after the arrest of Irakly Okruashvili, a former defence minister turned critic of Saakashvili. He had accused the president of corruption and of plotting Patarkatsishvili’s murder. In custody Okruashvili retracted the allegations and was released on £3m bail. He is now said to be in Germany.

Since the mountainous republic of 5m people declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, it has experienced turmoil. Under Saakashvili, relations between Georgia and Russia, which has sought to retain its influence, have fallen to their lowest ebb since the collapse of communism.

While it would be rash to write off the president, he has found a serious opponent in Patarkatsishvili, who made his fortune in Russia and for nearly two decades was the closest business partner of Boris Berezovsky – the tycoon granted asylum in Britain. The two are still close friends.

When Berezovsky fell out with President Vladimir Putin in 2001, both billionaires fled Russia to escape charges of fraud and embezzlement. Patarkatsishvili returned to Georgia, where he built an empire which ranges from telecommunications to banking and from media to Dinamo Tbilisi, the football club.

Patarkatsishvili lives on an estate perched above the city’s Kura River where, during winter, he has his palm trees encased in glass. One former visitor was Andrei Lugovoi, the man wanted by Scotland Yard on suspicion of murdering former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned with polonium210 in London last year.

Patarkatsishvili employed Lugovoi in the 1990s as head of security at ORT, a television channel that he and Berezovsky controlled until they fell out with Putin. Patarkatsishvili subsequently used Lugovoi’s services to protect members of his family and described him as “smart” and “professional”.

Last May Scotland Yard detectives questioned the billionaire, who does not believe that Lugovoi could have killed Litvinenko knowingly.

As Berezovsky’s business partner, Patarkatsishvili was one of Russia’s best-connected oligarchs. The two, who started out by importing foreign cars, were behind the creation of some of the biggest companies in postcommunist Russia.

Patarkatsishvili has known Putin since 1992 when the future president was deputy mayor in St Petersburg. The two men liked one another and had dinner several times.

“When Putin and Berezovsky fell out I was given a clear choice: to stay in Russia and side with the Kremlin and others, or to leave and stay loyal to Boris. Friends are friends, so my choice was easy,” said Patarkatsishvili.

“The Putin I met 15 years ago was a different man. I liked him then and was impressed with him. The authoritarian Russia he has built isn’t to my liking, but since it’s what most Russians seem to want, that’s their choice.

“It’s definitely not what I want for Georgia. We don’t need dictators who shut down TV stations just because they have a different voice. I’ll do all in my power to rid my country of Saakashvili by constitutional means.”

Video footage of the riots and police action

Read a Reuters report of the riots

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