Businessman Boris Berezovsky, who was found dead at his home outside London on March 23, was one of the key political figures in Russia in the 1990s during the presidency of Boris Yeltsin. Berezovsky, 67, was a leading figure among the Yeltsin-era "oligarchs," a group of politically connected businessmen who profited mightily from the wave of privatizations that followed the break-up of the Soviet Union. Berezovsky used his influence to help engineer current President Vladimir Putin's rise to power. However, he later fell out with the Kremlin leader and went into exile in 2000 in the United Kingdom, where he became one of the most outspoken critics of the Russian administration.
(18 PHOTOS)
The Rise And Fall Of Boris Berezovsky
2
The business magnate and philanthropist George Soros (left) with the Russian Science and Technology Minister Boris Saltykov and Boris Berezovsky (right) after the signing of an agreement to co-finance programs to support scientists in Russia in 1995.
4
Russian Security Secretary Ivan Rybkin and his deputy Boris Berezovsky (right) pictured onboard a helicopter as they head to Grozny to take part in talks aimed at settling the conflict in the Caucasus republic of Chechnya in 1996.
5
Boris Berezovsky (front right) at Russian-Chechen talks in Moscow on July 11, 1997
6
As the executive secretary of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Boris Beresovsky (right) meets with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon in Dushanbe on March 27, 1998.
7
Then-Russian President Boris Yeltsin (left) with CIS Executive Secretary Boris Berezovsky at a CIS summit in Moscow on April 29, 1998.
8
CIS Executive Secretary Boris Berezovsky (left) with Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze in Tbilisi on May 14, 1998.
9
Boris Berezovsky (right) with Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka in Minsk on May 8, 1998.
10
Berezovsky (right) with Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev on March 5, 1999.
11
Boris Berezovsky (center) surrounded by journalists during a congress on the Russian press in June 1999.
12
Oil and media tycoon Boris Berezovsky (left) with his fellow oligarch Roman Abramovich at a meeting of Duma deputies in December 1999. In 2012, Berezovsky lost a $5.1 billion lawsuit against Abramovich in a dispute over shares in the oil firm Sibneft.
14
Boris Berezovsky (left) with Marina Litvinenko, the widow of Aleksandr Litvinenko, at an event to mark the first anniversary of the death of her husband. Berezovsky always blamed the former security agent's death by poisoning in 2006 on the Kremlin.
16
Boris Berezovsky arrives at the High Court in central London for a hearing concerning a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against Roman Abramovich over the Sibneft oil firm.
17
Boris Berezovsky speaks to the media after losing his court battle against oligarch Roman Abramovich in August 2012.
18
A police cordon blocks the road leading to Boris Berezovsky's house after he was found dead at his home near Ascot in Berkshire in as yet unexplained circumstances on March 23, 2013.
