Russian prosecutors have pressed new charges against billionaire and Kremlin critic Boris Berezovsky. Berezovsky, who is wanted in Russia on several other fraud charges, is now also accused of embezzling $13 million from the Russian bank SBS-Agro in 1997 to buy property on the French Riviera.
Berezovsky lives in Britain, where he has been granted political asylum.
Russia has accused Britain of maintaining double standards in its failure to hand over Berezovsky while demanding that Russia extradite Andrei Lugovoi, the main suspect in the murder of former Russian security officer Aleksandr Litvinenko.
Berezovsky was among the first to accuse the Kremlin of ordering Litvinenko's murder, and he has claimed that the Kremlin is pressing charges against him in an effort to divert attention from the case. He also claims that he himself was the target of an assassination plot.
Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
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