LONDON -- Former Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky has told RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service that Armenia and Azerbaijan should not look to Moscow to help solve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Berezovsky, who lives in self-imposed exile in Britain, said Russia will always impede efforts to resolve the conflict.
"It is in Russia's interest to make the conflict even more complicated in order to divide and rule," he said.
Berezovsky said Russia's current leaders are neither experienced nor adequately educated. He said their primary interest is to exploit the Karabakh conflict to make money.
Berezovsky, 64, added that the strategic interests of post-Soviet countries and Russia diverge. He said nobody will help the post-Soviet Eurasian states stand up to Russia's expansion and domination so they must rely on their own efforts.
Berezovsky said Western countries are mainly concerned with their own short-term interests. He said for that reason people in the former Soviet republics should be politically active and ready to fight for their freedoms every day.
Berezovsky served in 1998-99 as chairman of the Executive Committee of the secretariat of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). He was also the deputy secretary of Russia's Security Council during President Boris Yeltsin's term in office and a Duma deputy from 1999-2000.
In 2001, he fled to Britain, where he obtained political asylum. The Russian authorities have launched several investigations into his business activities.
In 2007 a Moscow court found him guilty of embezzlement and sentenced him to six years in jail, accusing him of stealing some $9 million from Aeroflot. He was charged in 2009 with theft of thousands of cars and sentenced him to 13 years in jail.
Berezovsky said the charges are politically motivated.
Berezovsky, who lives in self-imposed exile in Britain, said Russia will always impede efforts to resolve the conflict.
"It is in Russia's interest to make the conflict even more complicated in order to divide and rule," he said.
Berezovsky said Russia's current leaders are neither experienced nor adequately educated. He said their primary interest is to exploit the Karabakh conflict to make money.
Berezovsky, 64, added that the strategic interests of post-Soviet countries and Russia diverge. He said nobody will help the post-Soviet Eurasian states stand up to Russia's expansion and domination so they must rely on their own efforts.
Berezovsky said Western countries are mainly concerned with their own short-term interests. He said for that reason people in the former Soviet republics should be politically active and ready to fight for their freedoms every day.
Berezovsky served in 1998-99 as chairman of the Executive Committee of the secretariat of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). He was also the deputy secretary of Russia's Security Council during President Boris Yeltsin's term in office and a Duma deputy from 1999-2000.
In 2001, he fled to Britain, where he obtained political asylum. The Russian authorities have launched several investigations into his business activities.
In 2007 a Moscow court found him guilty of embezzlement and sentenced him to six years in jail, accusing him of stealing some $9 million from Aeroflot. He was charged in 2009 with theft of thousands of cars and sentenced him to 13 years in jail.
Berezovsky said the charges are politically motivated.
