Putin Foe, Exiled Russian Oligarch Found Dead in UK Home
March 24th, 2013Via: CNN:
Investigators are searching the London area home where the body of former Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky was found for possible chemical, radiological or biological evidence, police said in a statement released early Sunday.
Circumstances surrounding the death of Berezovsky, one of the most politically influential of Russia’s oligarchs until a bitter falling out with the Kremlin, were not immediately known, and authorities in the United Kingdom said it was being investigated.
“His death is currently being treated as unexplained and a full inquiry is under way,” Thames Valley Police said in a statement.
Officers, including specialized investigators, are conducting a number of searches “as a precaution.”
The body of Berezovsky was still at the house early Sunday after being discovered Saturday afternoon, the statement said.
Police did not detail why authorities were searching for possible chemical, nuclear, radiological or biological evidence.
Berezovsky, a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, blamed the Kremlin for the 2006 death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, who died after being poisoned by the radioactive material polonium-210. In a deathbed statement, Litvinenko blamed Putin, an accusation the Kremlin strongly denied.
For years, Berezovsky bankrolled the effort of Litvinenko’s widow to push for an inquest into her husband’s death.
Berezovsky later sued a Russian broadcaster for libel after it claimed in a report that he was behind the death of Litvinenko. He won the claim against All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK), and the High Court in London awarded him £150,000 ($223,400) in damages.
