# Was Boris Berezovsky assassinated?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-boris-berezovsky-assassinated/653872>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 25, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-boris-berezovsky-assassinated/653872 "2013-03-25T00:47:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-boris-berezovsky-assassinated/653872/1 "2013-03-25T00:47:50Z")

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I’d never heard of the man but I find this sort of thing intriguing and know many dopers are knowledgeable. Here is a snippet from a [Reuters article](http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/24/us-britain-russia-berezovsky-idUSBRE92M09K20130324) that seems to imply that it wouldn’t be out of the question.

> [@](#):
>
> But Berezovsky fell foul of the Kremlin early in Putin’s first term and moved to Britain, where he was given asylum.
> 
> Sheltered from criminal cases in which he has been sentenced to years in prison in absentia, and which he has dismissed as politically motivated, he harried Putin for a decade from London. He teamed up with other exiles to implicate the Russian state in killings and rights abuses.
> 
> Berezovsky traded unofficial accusations with Russian authorities over killings such as the polonium poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006, and survived assassination attempts himself.
> 
> In 1994, Berezovsky’s car was blown up and his driver killed - reportedly decapitated. In 2007, he said British police had warned him of a plot to assassinate him.

edit: there is bio info in the article. Briefly, he was a Russian billionaire living in London who for over 10 years was one of Putin’s harshest critics.

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**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-boris-berezovsky-assassinated/653872/2 "2013-03-25T04:11:05Z")

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I doubt it. But if you’ve never heard of him: he was one of the infamous oligarchs — misnamed since they were not a governmental elite – who robbed Russia blind.