Alternate Titles:
Rise of the Oligarchs in Russia and Ukraine

How Boris Berezovsky Fled Russia and Supported a Coup in Ukraine

Introduction

The “expulsion” of Boris Berezovsky from Russia under the Putin Regime sparked a chain of events that led to Ukraine’s upheaval. Though considered an “expulsion” by the Russian billionaire, Berezovsky was actually summoned to appear for questioning by the Prosecutor General but chose to remain in exile in UK and obtain political asylum there (BBC, 2012). The story is worth telling because what followed in the geopolitical spat between Berezovsky and Putin impacted Ukraine and millions of lives there, and the telling reveals the fragile nature of the democracies of Eastern Europe in general in the post-Soviet era. For it was Berezovsky who vowed revenge against Putin and immediately began meddling in Ukraine politics as a way of getting back at the new head of Russia—with the help of various investors, politicos and other power brokers from both the US and Israel (BBC, 2012). Regardless of where the influence and money came from, the falling out between the man who promised to strip the oligarchs of their political power in Russia and the oligarch who helped to install Putin in the Kremlin had an indirect but ultimately disruptive effect on Russia’s neighboring state—Ukraine (Mezrich, 2015). Ukraine is perhaps the best and most devastating example of how elusive the promise of democracy and capitalism has been for Eastern Europe. The reason for this elusiveness is that, at the end of the day, Eastern Europe has essentially been a geopolitical vacuum, into which all the major players on the world stage—from the Bushes to the Bidens to the Berezovskys and Putins—have sought to wield influence (BBC, 2012;Risen, 2019). Since the fall of Communism, Ukraine has struggled to develop its own identity independent of both Western and Eastern influence—perhaps not surprising since it exists between the two like a middle child uncertain of who or what she can become.

Fall of Communism

Ukraine declared its sovereignty in 1990 and its independence in 1991 following the fall of the Berlin Wall (the symbol of Communism) in1989. Elections were held and Leonid Kravchuk. However, economic and political crises appeared, and another election was held for 1994, in which Leonid Kuchma was elected with just over half the popular vote. Kuchma opened the door for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to be part of the country’s reconstruction, and in 1996 a new, formal constitution was delivered. Still, throughout the 1990s, the hoped-for economic prosperity did not manifest and instead Ukraine lost 60% of its GDP that decade (IMF, 2007). Inflation, crime and corruption so plagued the country that soon workers were striking and protests were appearing en masse. Kuchma gave way to Berezovsky-backed Viktor Yushchenko, who gave way to Putin-backed favorite Viktor Yanukovych, who gave way to Western-backed Petro Poroshenko (Berezovsky found dead in this bathroom in England by that point), who promised to return Crimea to Ukraine (though the Crimean people themselves voted for annexation and a return to Russia), and the civil war that ensued ensured a limited run by Poroshenko and he gave way to Volodymyr Zelensky, who subsequently assured the world that President Trump did not pressure him to look into any improprieties committed by Joe Biden and son Hunter with regards to Ukraine’s natural gas company Burisma Holdings. If it all sounds like an unending melodramatic soap opera—that is because it is exactly that—except the toll of all this drama has been felt in real loss of life, real destabilization of the nation’s economy, and real geopolitical consequences. Ukraine should have been a natural ally of Russia—but when Russia’s Putin and oligarch “roof,” aka “krysha” as Mezrich (2015) described Berezovsky, fell out with one another, it opened a rift of gigantic proportions and a power play in the East European country where the exiled krysha looked to impose his revenge. In short, the Fall of Communism did not do anything to usher in a period of peace and prosperity for Ukraine. Instead, it opened up an opportunity for a power play in a vacuum that needed to be filled. The IMF first stepped in to fill it. Then Berezovsky looked to wield influence and control the puppet president from behind the scenes. Then Putin pushed back, unwilling to allow the neighbor state to be controlled by the same man Putin vowed to push out of politics. Then the West pushed back, unwilling to be left out of the power play. Then Ukraine, splintered into pieces and elected a comedian to be president, which shows the people there are not without a sense of irony.

Why So Many Problems?

The problems of the Ukraine are essentially the problems that Russia had under Yeltsin in the 1990s: with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia saw a wholesale looting of the economy by a group of men who became known as the oligarchs—businessmen like Berezovsky, Abramovich, Chubais,...…the hand perfectly and the comedian came to power. Zelensky knew Kolomoisky: the former had appeared on TV as an actor on the station owned by the latter. It was, in other words, much like the relationship between Berezovsky the Krysha and the young journalist at newspaper owned by Berezovsky: the oligarch turned the writer into a power play by getting the daughter of Yeltsin to marry the young man (Mezrich, 2015). In Ukraine, the oligarch Kolomoisky used his influence to promote the actor before the public and turn him into a power play. In both cases it was the same—simply the practice of the puppeteer aiming to control the puppet in politics, as has been the case throughout the history of democracy and capitalism all around the world.

Conclusion

The civil war in the Donbass region of Ukraine has been an indirect outcome of Putin’s war with the oligarchs in Russia. The collapse of Communism in Russia led to an opportunity for men like Berezovsky to strike it rich as the currency collapsed and hyperinflation set in. Berezovsky made his billions by borrowing at large amounts and then waiting for the currency to collapse before paying back his debts, basically ensuring that he would pay pennies on the dollar (Mezrich, 2015). Berezovsky then went on to influence politics in Russia by worming his way into the Kremlin. When Putin came to power, however, the game was up, and Berezovsky fled to UK and launched his war against Putin by supporting a coup in Ukraine. Civil war broke out between Ukraine and pro-Russian forces in the Donbass region; Crimea was annexed by Russia; and Berezovsky died in a bathroom. The election of Zelensky to the highest office in Ukraine came about as a result of Ukraine oligarch Kolomoisky wielding his influence and, in particularly, his media empire to promote the kind of anti-establishment candidate that Donald Trump was presented as in the US. Of course, things are never as simple as they appear, and the Trump Administration has been filled with establishmentarians from the beginning, including West Point graduate Mike Pompeo, now serving as US Secretary of State. In Ukraine, the situation is really no different. For all the talk of democracy and capitalism, these buzzwords are little more than screens set up so that the real power players can go about their business with as little interruption as possible—until the next round of power grabbing commences.

References

Alexievich, S. (2007). Secondhand Time: The…