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Exiled Russian tycoon sets his sights on Bush, Europe

From his home in exile, the billionaire who restyled himself as the linchpin of Russia's liberal opposition watches the one-horse race for the presidency of his homeland with disgust while waging a campaign to discredit incumbent Vladimir Putin.

Boris Berezovsky admits he has been unsuccessful in persuading Russians that democracy is in retreat under Putin, who is up for re-election on March 14. Now he's aiming for a different audience: President George W. Bush and European leaders.

"If you ask me what is my personal political target in this election, it is to prove that this election is not legitimate," Berezovsky told reporters in an interview last week in the boardroom of his swank offices in London.

"We'll try to send a clear message first of all to Mr Bush, and second to European leaders, that they are not able to accept these elections as legitimate," said Berezovsky, who was granted political asylum by Britain after fleeing prosecution in Russia on fraud charges he contends are politically motivated.

Berezovsky, who was an influential adviser to former Russian leader Boris Yeltsin, told reporters he has spent about US$100 million on political campaigning and democracy-building projects in Russia. He said US$80 million went to the Liberal Russia party and US$20 million to his New York-based Foundation for Civil Liberties, which provides grants to human rights groups and other non-governmental organizations in the former Soviet Union.

Although he helped bring Putin to power, Berezovsky has waged a campaign against Russia's president almost from the moment Putin was elected in spring 2000, three months after being tapped by Yeltsin to be his successor.

Alone among Russia's then-legislators, Berezovsky published an open letter decrying Putin's plan to tighten control over the nation's regions. Since then, he has grown even more insistent that Putin, a secret police officer during the communist era, is leading Russia to dictatorship.

He accused the security services of organizing the 1999 apartment house bombings in Moscow and two other Russian cities that became a pretext for Russian troops to sweep into Chechnya for the second war there in half a decade. He financed the publication and distribution of a book by a former security service agent detailing the alleged conspiracy.

Berezovsky protested bitterly when state-controlled interests took over an independent Russian television station and forced the closure of one owned by Berezovsky. He accused Putin of returning Russia to a Soviet-style state monopoly on the media.

But most Russians remain unmoved.

They view Berezovsky as a dark icon of the corruption and chaos of the Yeltsin years, when he amassed a quick fortune in financial deals -- including a car dealership network, an investment fund, and banking, oil and media holdings -- while most people saw their savings evaporate. People also question the motives of a man who was pushed from power by Putin and who fled three-and-a-half years ago to escape trial.

Many Russians also harbor deep misgivings about Berezovsky because of the unsolved killings of several people in his orbit: TV network executive Vladislav Listyev in 1995; Liberal Russia co-chairman Vladimir Golovlyov in 2002; and another party co-chairman, Sergei Yushenkov, who had fallen out with Berezovsky, last year.

Berezovsky, who himself escaped death in a 1994 car bombing, denies any part in the killings.

Berezovsky's political involvement in Russia goes beyond financing Putin's opponents. He retains control of the daily newspapers Kommersant and Nezavisimaya Gazeta, two magazines affiliated with Kommersant, and two Web sites: www.grani.ru and www.kolokol.ru.

Through those outlets, "Berezovsky indirectly influences the formation of public opinion -- not in society but in the political community," said Liliya Shevtsova, a political scientist at the Carnegie Moscow Center.

The tycoon's campaign poses no threat to Putin's chances for re-election. Four of the president's six opponents have poll ratings in the low single digits, and the other two openly say they hope Putin will win.

What makes Berezovsky worrisome to the Kremlin is his reputation as the holder of a trove of possibly compromising information on Russia's political and business leaders dating back to his time as a member of Yeltsin's Security Council.

"As a man who occupied government posts that gave him access to information, himself having taken part in some political schemes under the carpet, of course he has some information he can throw out," said Leonid Sedov, a sociologist with the independent Levada Analytical Service.

The presidential candidate that Berezovsky is backing, Liberal Russia member Ivan Rybkin, hinted at this early last month. He published a full-page letter in Kommersant saying he had information about Putin's involvement in business that would undermine the president's campaign against the "oligarchs," the nickname for Berezovsky and a handful of other men who became immensely rich under Yeltsin.

While arguing that the election is unfairly tilted toward Putin, Berezovsky said it still gives the opposition a rare chance to make its voice heard. By law, state-run television has to provide air time to all the candidates, no matter how dismal their chances.

"It's a unique opportunity to present an opinion which is different, opposite to, official power in Russia," Berezovsky said.

He said he was heartened by the conclusion of human rights groups that the autumn elections confirming the Kremlin-backed president in Chechnya were fraudulent and by the contention of Western election observers that Russia's parliamentary elections in December were unfair, largely because the largest Kremlin-backed party had a huge advantage in state media coverage.

The presidential election campaign is no more fair, Berezovsky said. If anything, the media is giving even more free and flattering advertising to Putin.

"We want to press Europe and the United States, first of all, to make a clear statement as far as the presidential election is concerned," Berezovsky said.
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