So, the most famous Russian immigrant, billionaire Boris Berezovsky, has returned to Britain and is now telling reporters -- and everyone who'll listen -- why he left Britain for a time-out. Since he's Public Enemy No. 1 to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Berezovsky claims the Russians are trying to kill him and the folks at Scotland Yard told him to get out of town for a while.
As the Telegraph reports:
Mr Berezovsky said today: "Three weeks ago the police informed me that they were aware that an assassin had been sent from Russia to kill me. I was advised by the police to leave the country if I could. I went overseas for a week and then the police informed me that I could return."
Now he's applauding British police for foiling the Russian death plot against him.
Other notes on Berezovsky, who started his empire as a used car salesman:
The 61-year-old is sought by Russia for trial on embezzlement and money-laundering charges.
He employed former Russian spy and Putin opponent Litvinenko, who died after being poisoned with radioactive polonium at a London hotel in November.
He was the subject of an attempted assassination in Russia in 1994 which killed his driver. Over the years, he says, he's received many death threats by mail or fax.
The Sun is reporting that a man has been arrested for the attempted hit on the Russian tycoon:
Police seized the suspect on suspicion of conspiracy to murder after a plot was uncovered for a hitman to kill an outspoken “enemy of Moscow” at the Hilton Hotel on London’s Park Lane.
The assassin was accompanied by a child in a cold-blooded attempt to avoid raising suspicion.
The plot thickens: The hitman mission was revealed 24 hours after Britain ordered the expulsion of four Russian diplomats. This story from yesterday.
Relations between London and Moscow appear to be chilly, to say the least.
Photo: Exiled Russian billionaire and fierce Kremlin critic Boris Berezovsky gives a press conference in London, July 18, 2007. BERTRAND LANGLOIS/AFP/Getty Images
