Boris Berezovsky, the exiled Russian oligarch and longtime opponent of the Kremlin, was round dead at his home in Britain yesterday in “unexplained” circumstances, his spokesman and police said.
Police said they had launched a full investigation into the 67-year-old tycoon’s death in the well-heeled commuter town of Ascot, near London.
Berezovsky’s lawyer, Alexander Dobrovinsky, said on Russian television that the billionaire had committed suicide after suffering from weeks of depression over his huge debts, although another friend strongly denied that claim.
Berezovsky settled in Britain more than a decade ago after going into “self-imposed” exile, where he became one of the most outspoken critics of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
According to reports, he was at the center of a group of anti-Kremlin exiles in London who included Alexander Litvinenko, who died of poisoning by radioactive polonium in November 2006.
Putin’s spokesman said, however, that Berezovsky had recently written to the Russian leader asking for a pardon and permission to return home.