Death threats sent to Russian exile Boris Berezovsky from a London cemetery

Author Yuri Felshtinsky said the billionaire was so sure Putin was behind the threats that he wrote to him asking him to call off his “flunkies”.

Berezovsky, 67, was found dead last month in the bathroom of his former wife Galina’s home in Ascot, Berkshire.

The letter came from someone calling himself Petr Petrovich, who, in a macabre gesture, signed off with the address and phone number of Highgate Cemetery in north London, where Berezovsky’s murdered friend Alexander Litvinenko is buried.

The letter starts: “There is no such place on earth where death cannot find us, even if we keep seeking one.

“Have you not been besieged by nightmares, don’t you wake up sweating and asking yourself: What I am doing with my life and with the life of my family?” The writer then mentions driving past a cemetery and continues: “Every time I recall this episode I think about how fragile life can be when one declares war against his own nation. You understand that Russian politics is Russian roulette. P.S. You were the first to declare war and thus we are here.”

The letter, sent in 2002, a year after he fled Russia in fear of his life, continued to haunt Berezovsky. He later wrote to Putin asking him to “calm down” two flunkies who were threatening to make a documentary about him.  

In January, a programme broadcast in Russia accused Berezovksy of arranging the murder of a former politician.

Speaking from his home in Boston, Massachusetts, Mr Felshtinsky said: “Boris was sure Putin was behind the threatening letter. It was very similar in tone to a letter sent to a former Russian general in Washington. In March 2007 I was told by a source there would be an attempt on Boris’s life in London. I told Boris someone with a Chechen background would try to meet him. In July 2007 a man came to London from Russia with a Chechen background saying he wanted to see Boris. Boris tipped off Scotland Yard and the man was arrested and sent back to Moscow.

“Last year I learned that the man arrived in London with a teenage boy who had been trained to do the actual killing. They thought if he was caught he would be too young to be charged. Boris was very concerned. He felt his life was still in danger.”

Mr Felshtinsky, whose book The Putin Corporation has recently been published, added: “I do not believe he committed suicide. Somebody could have entered the house to kill him.” The fact that Berezovsky did not leave a personal note to his family also indicated he did not intend to take his own life, he said.

Thames Valley Police do not suspect third party involvement in Berezovsky’s death and are awaiting the results of toxicology tests.