#2
BBC Monitoring
Self-exiled tycoon levels accusations at Russian authorities
Source: NTV, Moscow, in Russian 1600 gmt 14 Dec 01

The well-known entrepreneur Boris Berezovskiy appeared in Moscow today - admittedly it was a virtual appearance. He addressed participants in the conference, "Civil Society and Human Rights" via a TV link. It has to be said that the entrepreneur's address was more like a prosecutor's speech. Boris Berezovskiy openly declared that the Russian special services had been involved in the explosions in Moscow and Volgodonsk. He compared the present situation in Russia to Nazism. Vladimir Kondratyev has all the details.

[Kondratyev] The conference, mounted by the New York-registered Berezovsky Foundation, has been lavishly organized: not in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses, as was recently the case with the Civic Forum, but in the fashionable Balchug Hotel nearby. The organizers say that the Balchug Hotel has the facilities for organizing the central event of the programme - a TV link between the conference participants and the disgraced oligarch...

Berezovskiy once again explained why Putin is unlikely to get to the end of his first presidential term.

[Berezovskiy, shown on screen in conference room] Realistically: the creation in the country of an authoritarian, Nazi-type state, or, after all, a choice in favour of liberal development - that is the crossroads we are now at.

[Kondratyev] Admitting that he met Chechen leaders even after leaving the post of deputy secretary of the Security Council, Berezovskiy, perhaps for the first time, publicly levelled extremely serious accusations against the Russian authorities.

[Berezovskiy] There was information that a military act was being planned in Dagestan. And I reported this to [former Prime Minister] Mr [Sergey] Stepashin. What happened in Dagestan was a calculated provocation by the Russian special services, just as I am certain that the Russian special services were involved in the explosions at buildings in Moscow and Volgodonsk [all in 1999].

I am certain of this. The only thing I cannot do is say that [Vladimir] Putin gave the order for these operations, that Putin personally commanded these operations. Here I cannot say anything. And if anybody reckons this is a provocation on my part, I am prepared to meet these people in court.

[Kondratyev] Berezovskiy commented on the American decision to quit the ABM treaty. This is a game Russia is losing.

[Berezovskiy] It is the president's lack of experience, and, on the other hand, the absence of solid intellectual forces around the president, that prevent him from fathoming the steps of our allies and rivals.

[Kondratyev] And finally, the situation at TV-6. After Berezovskiy was cheated and forced to sell a package of ORT shares worth more than 100m dollars in exchange for the release of his friend Nikolay Glushkov from gaol, he will not give up shares in TV-6. It is another matter that if TV-6 journalists who are being leaned on and beaten up say they can't stand it any more, Berezovskiy is prepared fully to delegate to them a decision on the fate of the station. I asked Berezovskiy to clarify this idea. What is it - another attempt to hand over shares to journalists?

[Berezovskiy] What I say is that the authorities can't hide from freedom of speech. There is the internet, there are satellite links. And I shall offer alternative work to all who want it, and resource the work materially. But I shall not push anyone into specific actions. I shall offer an alternative. But I won't condemn under any circumstances if the choice goes the other way. And that is why I said that the fate of TV-6 is fully in the hands of those who work there today....