Russian prosecutors have charged emigre tycoon Boris Berezovsky on suspicion of plotting to seize power, his lawyer said on Monday. The multi-millionaire, who lives in Britain where he has been granted refugee status, said he was confident Britain would never extradite him to Russia.
"He has been charged with conspiring to seize power in a violent coup," Andrei Borovkov, Berezovsky's lawyer told journalists. The charge was brought by Russia's FSB secret service, said the lawyer, and related to an interview the tycoon gave to Britain's Guardian newspaper in which he was quoted as saying force was needed to bring about a change of power in Russia.
The move is likely to aggravate a diplomatic row between Britain and Russia, which has for years been pressing for Berezovsky's extradition to stand trial on corruption charges.
"I am confident that I do not violate not only Russian but British laws as well, therefore I simply cannot be worried that the British authorities may decide to extradite me," Berezovsky told independent Ekho Moskvy radio station. Berezovsky is also at the centre of a row over the murder in London last year of Russian ex-agent Alexander Litvinenko who died after being poisoned with radioactive polonium.
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