On March 23, 2013, a 67-year-old Russian man died in a house in the town of Xoster in London, England.
That night, the world's major media announced a big news, Boris Abramovich Berezovsky, a rich man who was in power in Russia, died in a foreign country inexplicably, leaving people with only endless questions and speculations.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > the birth of Russia's first billionaire</h1>
When the news reached the ears of the Russians, most of the Russian people had two feelings of grief about Berezovsky's death, one was shock, the other was pain .
Berezovsky is Russia's billionaire and one of the richest tycoons in the country, but almost all of his money is plundered from the hands of the people, and the more money Berezovsky has, the less money every ordinary Russian has in his account.
Born on January 23, 1946, berezovsky to a family of intellectuals in Moscow received the best education from an early age, with his parents devoting a great deal of resources to the best schools.
He also did not live up to the expectations of his parents, from an early age he was a top performer, especially good at mathematics, majoring in applied science during his university years, and after graduation he entered a computer science academy in Moscow to work.
For many years thereafter, he contributed his mind and skills as a mathematician, earning his degree in 1983 and becoming the management of the Academy of Sciences step by step.
If the story continues like this, Berezovsky may become a mathematical giant with great achievements, but in the face of the great waves of the times, it is difficult for individuals to control their own ups and downs.
As the internal problems of the Soviet Union continued, Berezovsky's life began to suffer.
In 1989, the salaries of the Computer Science Academy were suspended for various reasons, and in order to survive, Berezovsky had to find another way out.
At that time in the Soviet Union, materials were very scarce, especially in the field of automobiles.
The Soviets were eager to own their own cars, but the Soviets were not capable of providing enough car supplies to find even spare parts, so that anything related to cars could become hard currency at the time, and in many cases it was better than money.
Berezovsky took a fancy to an old car of his colleague and managed to buy it.
In order to renovate the car, he contacted the Volga Automobile Factory through the relationship of the Computer Science Academy, and as he wished, his car became brand new.
It was also this contact with the Volga Automobile Factory that allowed Berezovsky to discover the great prospects of the automobile market in the Soviet Union.
When mathematicians don't make money, and writing software makes money but it's too slow, if there is a way to get the Soviets who are hungry for cars to buy cars from their own hands, the speed of making money is extraordinary.
With an idea, Berezovsky began to pull relations around.
Soon, he was able to get the Volga factory and import $5 million in cars from abroad.
In order to let the cars enter the territory of the Soviet Union, Berezovsky once again found various relationships, and talked with the owners of enterprises with imported automobile qualifications while drinking vodka.
Two days later, Berezovsky borrowed the qualification to import cars.
The import of these cars brought Berezovsky a profit of $3 million, a huge amount he had never seen before.
Berezovsky, who had tasted the sweetness, continued to work hard and continued to open up the automobile market through the Volga Automobile Plant.
He opened the first Mercedes-Benz store in the Soviet Union, established the first car distribution chain in the Soviet Union, and made $1.4 billion in the next business.
Soon, Berezovsky became the majority shareholder of the Volga Automobile Plant, established the All-Russian Automobile Union, and almost monopolized the automobile market.
He later recalled his career and described himself as "the man who single-handedly created the Soviet and Russian auto markets," perhaps arrogantly, but it was also true.
Through the automotive business, Berezovsky amassed a great deal of wealth and ambition.
The wealth brought by the automobile business could not meet the growth rate of Berezovsky, so he began to dabble in the financial field and founded a bank.
Through the relationship with the Ministry of Finance, using the state's funds to invest in high-yield projects, the empty gloves and white wolves once again made themselves a lot of money.
In the years of great changes in the country, Berezovsky saw the opportunity and used his already formed bank consortium to buy 51% of the shares of the Siberian Oil Company.
It took only $100 million to take down billions of dollars in assets, adding a lot of territory to his business empire.
State assets, once shared by all Russians, were embezzled 80 percent in the process of privatization.
Many people become poor overnight, and naturally some people get rich overnight.
Berezovsky was lucky, and on that night he had connections and financial resources, which made him the top hipster in the tide of the times.
When all the dust settles, he is already the number one oligarch in Russia, rich enough to rival the country.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" > one of the seven shadow presidents behind Yeltsin</h1>
It is difficult for a rich man to have much influence on the country, but unlike oligarchs, Russian oligarchs have the ability to control the country.
They are not just simply rich, their money comes from all aspects of the country, from all walks of life, and when their money reaches a certain level, their control over the country is also strong to a certain extent.
After the end of privatization, Berezovsky was no longer the depressed mathematician he had been, but the leading godfather who controlled Russia's oil, media, and automotive industries.
Together with six other oligarchs who also got rich overnight during privatization, he became Russia's seven "shadow presidents."
The Russian president at the time was Yeltsin, and it was the privatization reforms led by Yeltsin that gave birth to these seven oligarchs.
In turn, the seven oligarchs also began to get involved in politics, hoping to influence the country's development policies and bring more profits to themselves through their own power in all walks of life.
Yeltsin knew all the oligarchs' thoughts, and he didn't care.
He only needs the oligarchs to make sure that he remains president of Russia, so that he can turn a blind eye to what the oligarchs are doing.
In the 1996 Russian presidential election, the Russian Communist Party gained the upper hand in the elections, which was so angry that the Russian people, who were hurt by Yeltsin's radical economic policies, were so angry that the Russian Communist Party gained the upper hand in the elections.
The president of the Russian Communist Party, Zyuganov, is like the savior of the people, and is about to become the new president elected by all of Russia, and correspondingly, Yeltsin's approval rating has been declining.
Seeing that the presidential throne was about to be handed over, Yeltsin had to turn to the Seven Oligarchs.
A deal was reached, with the seven oligarchs, led by Berezovsky, firing wildly, and the media propaganda machine working day and night to promote Yeltsin's excellence while constantly discrediting competitors.
In the end, Yeltsin was re-elected president of Russia by a narrow margin.
As a great meritorious figure with "meritorious service", Berezovsky was appointed by Yeltsin as chairman of the CIS Executive Committee, deputy secretary of the National Security Council, and chief negotiator for Chechen affairs.
In fact, Berezovsky and six other oligarchs could use their own ideas to dictate to the government controlled by Yeltsin.
Many times, these seven people are the real presidents of the country, but they always hide in Yeltsin's shadow and never take a shot at the surface.
In the years that followed, Yeltsin cared much more for the oligarchs than he did for the people, and the common people were out of anger, and Yeltsin's approval rating fell again.
Instead of the past, the goal of the oligarchs is no longer to guarantee Yeltsin's election, but to ensure that no matter who the next Russian president is, the interests of the oligarchs cannot be affected.
To achieve this goal, Berezovsky began to personally look at everyone who could become the president's successor, including Putin.
At first, Berezovsky was very satisfied with Putin, as can be seen from Putin's smooth succession to Yeltsin as President of Russia.
On December 31, 1999, It was not so much Yeltsin's deliberate decision to hand over power to Putin as Berezovsky's long-term inspection of the presidency.
The year putin became president was a combination of time and place.
Not only the Russian people supported him, but also Berezovsky and other oligarchs, which determined that Putin would be able to successfully grasp the supreme power of the country.
But Berezovsky looked away this time.
Perhaps in his eyes, Putin is just another puppet president who is easy to control, young and non-political, and certainly cannot escape his palm.
What he did not expect was that Putin's obedience was only a protective color, and after coming to power, Putin began to fulfill the promise he made to the voters - to clean up the oligarchy and restore Russia to a bright blue sky.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="10" > Putin's number one enemy</h1>
After Putin's successful accession to power, Berezovsky's arrogance reached its peak.
He laughed and said, "Without my help, Putin would not have become the president." ”
Soon, Berezovsky was surprised to find that he had to pay the price for such arrogance.
When Putin took office, the wealth controlled by the seven oligarchs already accounted for more than 50% of Russia's total economy, and if there is no more crackdown, the country will truly become a playground for seven people, and the people will be destroyed.
Putin decided to resist the pressure and began to strike at the seven oligarchs one after another.
At first, Putin's crackdown was not too ruthless.
His demand was not to deprive the oligarchs of their property, but to demand that the oligarchs should not plunder the wealth of the people without restriction.
Above all, the oligarchs and their tentacles need to withdraw completely from politics and no longer exert any influence over the Russian government.
However, the seven oligarchs did not take Putin seriously at this time, and their political ease had made them inflated.
One of the oligarchs, Khodorkovsky, publicly opposed Putin at a public meeting, igniting a contradiction between the two sides.
After that, Putin began using administrative power to storm industries controlled by oligarchs.
Khodorkovsky was imprisoned, and another oligarch, Gusinsky, went into exile, where most of their assets were split and nationalized.
As the head of the seven oligarchs, Berezovsky received "special attention" from Putin and was charged with several charges of embezzlement, fraud, and embezzlement of huge assets.
Berezovsky used the Volga automobile factory to earn the first pot of gold, and now he has planted the first heel in the Volga automobile factory -
At Putin's behest, the Russian State Administration of Taxation made a surprise attack and conducted an investigation into the Volga automobile factory, which found that it had misstated the production of automobiles in 1999, escaped the sky-high tax payments, and dealt a major blow to Berezovsky's business empire.
Subsequently, Berezovsky was forced to resign from the State Duma and no longer serve as a member of the State Duma.
This means that he cannot enjoy the criminal immunity of a member of the State Duma.
In retaliation, Berezovsky formed an anti-Putin party, Free Russia, declaring that Putin's reforms were bound to fail.
He mobilized his own media machine to belittle Putin's ability to govern, even claiming that he did not rule out the use of force to overthrow the Putin regime.
With such a tough countermeasure, it is no wonder that it is called Putin's number one enemy.
On August 12, 2000, the nuclear submarine Kursk accidentally exploded and sank in the Barents Waters.
Berezovsky seized the opportunity to mobilize the national media to criticize Putin.
The move infuriated Putin, who issued a warrant for Berezovsky's arrest, who had to flee the country and emigrate to Britain in search of political asylum.
In his days abroad, Berezovsky continued to work against Putin, trying to overthrow Him so that he could return to power in Russia.
In 2001, Putin had hoped to extradite Berezovsky to his country on money laundering charges, but the British refused, which also caused the deterioration of relations between Russia and Britain.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="14" > the confusing cause of death</h1>
It is precisely because Berezovsky has too many labels, both the richest richest man in Russia and Putin's greatest enemy, that his death will cause such a huge sensation.
One wonders whether Russia has played any important role in the accidental death.
The reason for this speculation is that Russia has "appeared" a lot on the news related to the assassination.
In 2006, a former Russian agent named Alexander Litvinenko died in the UK after drinking a cup of tea containing a large amount of polonium-210.
Polonium-210 is a radioactive substance that is difficult for ordinary people to obtain, and it is speculated that someone poisoned Litvinenko, and the poisoner was probably an agent sent by the Russian side.
Litvinenko had publicly accused his superiors of ordering him to assassinate a man, that man, Berezovsky.
Litvynko then forged passports to settle in Britain, and over the years he publicly criticized Putin many times, and was therefore put on put on the wanted list by Putin.
After Berezovsky absconded to England, he and Litvinenko "shared the same disease" and became close friends.
After Litvinenko's accidental death, Berezovsky vowed that it was the poisoning and killing that Putin had instructed Russian agents.
The following year he also claimed to have been assassinated by an unsuccessful assassin, most likely the same person as the agent who assassinated Litvinenko.
With such a lesson in sight, it is understandable that the cause of Berezovsky's death is suspicious.
However, according to official accounts, Berezovsky died of a sudden death from a heart attack or suicide.
People close to Berezovsky told the media that Berezovsky had a history of heart disease, which had gotten worse in recent years, and that he had recently suffered from depression, which could have led to his unexpected loss of life.
On the Russian side, a Kremlin spokesman claimed at a press conference that Berezovsky had written to Putin in the months leading up to his death, apologizing to Putin in the letter, claiming that he had made mistakes in the past, hoping to get Putin's forgiveness and asking Putin for permission to return to Russia.
Berezovsky's later years would be so bleak, and it has to do with his financial strain.
During the years against Putin, Berezovsky had to sell most of his assets in order to save his life.
One of the most infuriating to him was the stake in the National Television Network, which he sold to Roman Abramovich that year.
The man is the owner of Chelsea Football Club and one of the Russian oligarchs, ranking 15th on the world's richest list.
Abramovich was originally an ally of the same camp as Berezovsky, and Berezovsky sold his shares out of trust.
Unexpectedly, Abramovich had already reached a consensus with Putin, and as soon as he turned around, he handed over all the shares to the Russian government, and the national television network was no longer controlled by Berezovsky.
The deal with Abramovich cost Berezovsky the power of the media and a lot of assets that he has been haunting for years.
When he was feeling financially strapped in Britain, his ex-wife demanded a sky-high break-up fee of £220 million.
In desperation, Berezovsky desperately filed a lawsuit against Abramovich, claiming that Abramovich forced himself to sell his shares at a price below market price in the transaction, demanding 3 billion pounds in compensation for himself.
However, the court ultimately dismissed the allegations on the grounds of insufficient evidence.
Berezovsky did not ask for money, but instead bore the burden of 100 million pounds in litigation costs, which made his financial situation worse.
One of his friends told the media that Berezovsky had borrowed money from a friend not so long ago, and that the Russian oligarch had borrowed not tens of millions of dollars, but only $5,000 because he had no money to buy a plane ticket.
Before Berezovsky's death, he had almost nothing but debt, and it is no wonder that he wanted to ask Putin for amnesty.
Perhaps for the 67-year-old, the scenery of the past is already passing, and he just wants to return to the land where he was born and raised before he dies.
But in the end, he did not get this opportunity, and he died alone in an unexpected and reasonable way.