probably borrowed some of his biographical details and some of his personality traits there is also he wanted to be a living legend in his lifetime in that he succeeded his sudden death is as big a mystery as his rapid rise to the peak of russian business and government. the english town of ascot forty kilometers from london has a population of about eighteen thousand his famous horse races frequented by the country's elite now it has a new claim to fame. is better spent his final years before a mysterious death. one . you got for me what you deserved he says to himself as he looks at us from the

other world. you see if he had died in poverty at the age of eighty seated in a rocking chair. in the british social system would have just sent a nurse to care for him. she had had to wipe his dripping nose and give him slippers to stop his legs from swelling so i just can't imagine that. he was destined to die before that and that's what he did what he did elegantly and nicely using a silk scarf you will. see with. the well known russian lawyer of french descent alexander the given ski has long been defending the interests of russian oligarchs there was a time when he was on good terms with better. in a bid to turn business into power the wealthy entrepreneur asked of inskeep to be his lawyer but the invitation was declined. i don't like crazy people

he was obsessed with the idea. you never knew how the tale would work out in the end. you always have to work with crazy people with someone but when one of them is obsessed with politics it's hard to work with them on. politics and we are completely different things. better he was equally insistent in calling on you to join the opposition but fail to gain the sinister rest butin of the ninety's was now the target of derision and jokes nobody took him seriously anymore alexander that doesn't believe better he was murdered by special services what would have been the point of killing him he had long since ceased to be a threat. still but it's an incredible number of people might say that security agents. britons the americans or irishman got into the bathroom through the lavatory by dissolving into a molecular state. to realizing is james bond. with

a scar but not before saying to him. we're going to strangle you after that they get reduced to molecules i went down to level tory with the sewerage later to emerge in the kremlin. shortly before his death row to penitential letter to put in criminal cases against him to be dropped and to be allowed to return. former head of security believes that better promise to hand over secret files on certain officials and businessmen in return for a pardon or. understood only too well let's just saying forgive me i won't do it again wouldn't be enough i'm almost certain that he would only expect a pardon issue in exchange for something otherwise he wouldn't have written a letter. of the in. from ation is a severe threat to several russian nurses.

overseas but it. knows firsthand that you're in the one nine hundred ninety s. . compromising material on some of russia's top businessmen and officials he has no doubt that better plans to use it against one of the country's oligarchs. they're trying to find that archive i think that's why they did. what he called the president he said. pardon me if i come back and i can incriminate a few people to your liking and he put in some interesting pieces of information simply writing a letter or talking in an interview with forbes would have been a foolish thing to do and i don't think he was a fool or a madman. before he died better he had lost the cold case of the century one russian oligarch. demanded that another. pay him five billion pounds owed from

a deal with the oil company. it was unable to produce any evidence that had pocketed money that didn't belong to him in those times deals with sealed with handshakes rather than signature. business would russia fortunes were being made in months even weeks but meteoric rise outstripped everybody. lifestyle was a bit like a nuclear reactor in fact he was a nuclear reactor constantly generating and spewing out excess energy and of course no one despite how healthy a person is like that for a long time and then comes the apathy. he was the orchestra conductor and the center of the universe he wanted to be the focus of everybody's attention and he wanted to be talked and written about well even if it was derogatory he said there is no black or white p.r. there is only. it was typical.

to a ph d. in mathematics. at the academy. finally opened up forty years of age. threw himself into business. and became a key business figure in the country. t.v. interview for ukrainian. politics i was ready to spend any amount of money to achieve political. spending fifteen. that was the most effective business project in my life. to build it. he claimed the project.

would get their revenge. one hundred forty million rubles. money sticking to the one rule that he set for himself in the ninety's. that made it possible for him to. make money from after. he liked under the of his friendship with the family. already controlled. industry but still he wanted more. with the highest authorities could bring in the really big money. officials and even members of his family. when he showed them with lavish gifts this will he found

a weak link to boris yeltsin the president's younger daughter tatiana. she had been married several times she wasn't chanted by. so was yeltsin's wife nyima who heard many good things about the entrepreneur from her daughter both were frequent guests was a french chef served sumptuous food in the relationship simplified gifts and money with money and gifts nothing else but turning point came on june the seventh nine hundred ninety four when better limousine was blown up the driver died instantly decapitated by the blast the targets bodyguards and several innocent bystanders sustained serious injuries miraculously. and. i thought to be burned alive if i stayed in the car but if i got out they shoot me my driver died but in fact he saved my life because as usual he forgot to lock the

door i just got out it was an incredible sensation it's not like being reborn it's a sense of purity what's happened before is of no importance problems are unimportant you have an airy feeling overwhelming. unusually took the backseat with a little how many would later speculate that the only god could muster mind to the attempt on his own life to join russia's ruling elite. to the apex of power began. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it. and realized everything is.

welcome to the big picture. he. believed to be. wealthy british scientists said. let's let. the. markets why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy in these kinds of reports.

by conflict. plays james. a moderate islamic nation. and a peaceful one the stone islam the first of course a secular last second. session. i'm sure is in place of. old traditions still. cannot go on the catwalk in a swimsuit it's. a republican country. see please.

international airport in the very heart of moscow. the murder attempt provided better with a ticket to the presidential club a small circle of the highest officials associated to yeltsin and his family they met only a few times and better off his role was of mata suffering for the ideals of entrepreneurship you can see he was a laughingstock after the car bomb that was the first time he appeared among the elite in the early ninety's who even nicknamed him smoky that's what they were all glamorous people and suddenly they saw the man with burnt hairs on his bald head

and a bandage face this way he takes advantage of the opportunity to attract attention be heard and take another step forward in his career at first bettors else he had no real power he set himself a different task he simply wanted to be seen among the president's in a circle as often as he could to impress on ole that he was welcome at the highest levels. which is what he was very funny i think it was there important for him to establish himself in the kremlin and make it clear to everybody that he is all ski was there he was fond of making phone calls from the kremlin he would say that he was calling from the waiting room of this official or that official he felt it was very important for him to see the official in question after sitting in the way. for a long time but getting no concrete decision from him.

created his image they would say. just. the gunmen in the game all going to show up instantly. they'd exclaim but actually he was a completely different person around the same time. with another eccentric multimillionaire. with. a handsome face and a liking for flashy ties. business friendship and. promotion. i remember in my waiting room for hours on end. holding his hands like this when he brought bad dream to me for the first time he made a better impression. and crime. did the dirty work that the responsible for.

just. a heart attack. would be attended by almost half of tbilisi's population. and even if. he would not pay his last respects to his friend he could be arrested. death was a terrible blow to. the ninety's they had together moved from being ordinary business to becoming rulers of destiny. as a complete surprise to everyone. i said i couldn't believe it. he would not be able to get them back off to bed because they.

lost financial support death. was left with no money because. nobody knew exactly where. because he lost a good deal of money he could no longer afford to fund. he influenced georgian politics with his. political weight by controlling several russian t.v. broadcasters and the country's most successful publishing house. was in a human rights campaigner. committee activist. for political competition. but he knew how far he could push journalists. between truth and truth. the difference between half truths.

one was a t.v. adored by the public to reshape the t.v. advertising market. chief editor of forbes in russia he had written about financial dealings but there was no proof that he was involved. no doubt. because he feared prosecution not political persecution. should be kept at a distance from the authorities disable the mechanism that he made possible for himself to make money by maintaining close links with the government. played a key role in election in nine hundred. six by using his media assets after that he became a leading figure in the president's. thoughts

. i think politics all the time that's what i like why do you. have you the right to do that and that's what i often hear the simple answer you can't imagine how much i love it. needed both financial and media support for the election confronted with a conflict between business and special services. he had to fire his own chief bodyguard who had openly been involved in a disagreement with other oligarchs. twenty nine hundred ninety six i left the kremlin and i took no part in further events. should think about repenting their own sins i've never been like that i didn't raise him so high. i once said i'd live long enough to see the end of him and

a few others so far he's the only one who's gone. after the success of yeltsin's presidential campaign there was also he was given control of the signal for practically nothing he was also made a high ranking government official deputy secretary of the security council to settle the conflict in chechnya. was in my days a very interesting case when i get down to stealing an oil pipeline or pump oil out of it certainly not i thought. the all important for business politics and for russian general at the. time elapsing issue at the time. back home by taking advantage of his longstanding contacts in chechnya t.v. channels that he controlled repeatedly pictures of men rescued from chips in

a captivity. the airliner touches down and stops some distant short of the airport building comes to the airport it gets into the plane. it approaches a group of journalists on the apron. to liberate or appears on the stairs it was a constant feature on the war teach channel. that he grabbed all the glory. at that time white people were still unaware of the fact that the time would come when they pay a heavy price for that glory. nearly all analysts so certain that for better politics was an extension of his business so he only tackled the problems in chechnya so he'd be able to win contracts for its restoration. they said that his office he expected to get gazprom and the rest of the russian federation as well as c. but you have to that was a conspiracy theory. ready had enough and simply needed to protect what i have.

the means of creating a stable political system. so that the. after winning the election there were only two official meetings between them only one appearance with yeltsin was broadcast on t.v. that was when he was being appointed to the post of secretary or something for russia's security council. influence on the media if he'd had a hundred meetings with i'm certain. unable to influence. the confidence of the president's elder daughter. she was the president's most trusted confidant it became clear towards the. health reasons.

that he had made the choice and was sure the new president would appreciate his efforts. brought him down he had to go because his time. and. trouble. and. the country against my will i can't. do or i'm going to keep them because i already think. it will. all go back to the prosecutor.

trying to create a political influence the course. of the presidential election in two thousand and four. former security council had mysteriously disappeared before the vote. some claim he arranged. to disrupt the ballot. possibility. that i don't think i'm in a position to say in front of cold feet that he betrayed me or anything. russian intelligence officer. was murdered. with. british intelligence accused. but he is convinced that it was in fact. obviously lying we have all the records of little interrogations they contain no

mention of anything like that that means this was. in charge of security for the t.v. . control. exposing his former chief. pay sixty million rubles to anyone who would give putin away because he allegedly came to power illegitimately and that was complete nonsense it makes absolutely no sense. over time. oppositionist became the butt of many jokes. of power in russia even prompted the british authorities to issue a warning that his political asylum status could be reviewed. six or seven years ago. he said still

the country's principle. still being demonized. and this is what i said. you want to hear you say yes i'm guilty. and he walked off to buy some pictures with. losing. two hundred million pounds. even more money. remains with the. market value he also had to cut down service and security. people. in the months before his death he was taking antidepressants. smoke before but not much then at one point he started smoking two packs a day and drinking heavily his personality began to split he would say one thing in the morning but it would be something different at lunch time or in the evening

several times in november he said that he'd lost the meaning of life and realized that he made many mistakes. business was synonymous money opened door and even to the president. would no longer work and at the end of his life there was no way back for him. keep.

it all in the studios i would live. in eternal silence give up her invisible battle. every day is a struggle. for our children sleep soundly at night. we are palestinian women working in israel we've done more for our kids than our husbands know we are phantoms in this life.

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reporting from the world's hot spots the v.i.p.'s interviews intriguing stories for use yes. he's been trying ot arabic to find out more visit arabic dot all tito it's called. the new book about international and war in the very heart of moscow. french troops in.