Boris Berezovsky Gets Closer to Russia
// He’s in Riga
visit
Yesterday, Boris Berezovsky came to Latvia with a refugee passport issued in Great Britain. The passport has the name of Platon Elenin. He is on the Interpol wanted list. Berezovsky had a meeting with representatives of the Civil Liberties Fund and said he was planning to go to Kiev soon. Latvian power did nothing to arrest him and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs considered that unfriendly behavior and threatened that “they won’t leave it as it is.”
There was a press conference at Riga airport. Having ensured that the visitor was not about to be arrested, the journalists asked Berezovsky about his attitude towards Latvia. He said that the present Russian policy towards Latvia “causes problems to the Russians and Latvians, but mostly to Russia”. In his opinion, the rights of the Russian speaking population are not violated. Besides, he supported the official position of Latvia regarding the World War II. He said that “both communism and fascism did equal evil.”
Then the guest had a meeting with the staff of the Civil Liberties Fund that he established in New York in 2001. The Fund has representative offices in Moscow and Riga. According to Berezovsky, the fund helped Russian speaking population to integrate into the life of the country, and did a lot to support the Russian culture and Russian people that “were abandoned by Russia.” As Berezovsky told to Kommersant, they “summed up the results and shaped a plan for future” at the meeting.
Visiting Latvia is the second trip of the political exile to the ex-USSR countries. The first one was a short trip to Tbilisi in December 2003. Yesterday, Berezovsky said he was planning to visit Kiev.
Moscow officials’ reaction was quite strong. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared: “Once they did nothing to arrest Berezovsky, the official Riga ignored the responsibilities of an Interpol member and showed its unreability as a partner in the struggle with organized crime. Latvia should realize that such actions can not be left as they are.” In its turn, Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Berezovsky’s visit is none of their business. According to Rets Plēsums, press secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, his department doesn’t comment on the visits of any visitor.” Berezovsky, the bearer of the refugee passport issued in Britain, doesn’t need visa to go to Latvia. He told Kommersant that he wouldn’t coordinate his trips with the Ukrainian officials, just like he hadn’t coordinate it with Latvian officials. “I think that is it safe to come because democratic countries respect the Geneva Refugee Convention.”- Berezovsky said.
Commenting on the possible Berezovsky’s visit to Kiev, the Ukrainian Minister of Justice, Roman Zvarych, said that Ukraine and Russia had signed the agreement on mutual extradition of criminals. However, the agreement cannot be carried out, because, Ukraine is a member of the Geneva Convention.
Vladimir Vodo, Riga, Aleksandr Vinogradov, Kiev, Mikhail Zygar
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 26, 2005
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