Boris Berezovskij dead - a new Litvinenko?

[HoreTore]

Found dead in his bathtub. Identity confirmed by his lawyer and a relative. British police has started an investigation, and has classified the death as unexplained.

A quick bio for those who may not know who he was:

Boris Berezovskij rose as one of Russia's top oligarchs after the USSR, through control and ownership of car industries, Aeroflot, Channel One, oil companies and much else. He was a close supporter of Boris Jeltsin, and used his control of Channel One, Russia's primary television channel, to aid his re-election. He also supported Putin's rise to power, but their relationship soured in 2000. Berezovskij was accused of several crimes, and fled to the UK where he was granted political asylum. He propagated the conspiracy theory that the apartment block explosions in Moscow, which was used to justify the 2nd Chechen war, was done by the FSB. At the time of his death, he was wanted under suspicion of planning a state coup.

What is the Backroom's opinion of this? Another radioactive diplomatic scandal in the makings?

[gaelic cowboy]

could be natural causes he was 67 and apparently life expectancy for a Russian is only 64 years

[Husar]

Yeah, probably a heart attack due to his financial troubles or so.
Putin would never have someone killed, Schröder and Depardieu said he's a flawless democrat.

[HopAlongBunny]

What is really sad is HoreTore is asking a credible question in our "brave new world"

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

True, and in answer to his question "maybe".

[Sarmatian]

Yeah, probably a heart attack due to his financial troubles or so.
Putin would never have someone killed, Schröder and Depardieu said he's a flawless democrat.

And if you can't trust Obelix, whom can you trust?

[Major Robert Dump]

Maybe it was bath salts.

[HopAlongBunny]

Maybe it was bath salts.

[Myth]

He propagated the conspiracy theory that the apartment block explosions in Moscow which was used to justify the 2nd Chechen war.

[HoreTore]

He propagated the conspiracy theory that the apartment block explosions in Moscow which was used to justify the 2nd Chechen war.

Yeah, something is missing from that sentence. It should've been:

He propagated the conspiracy theory that the apartment block explosions in Moscow, which was used to justify the 2nd Chechen war, was done by the FSB.

What I get for not copy-pasting from wiki...

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Yeah, something is missing from that sentence. It should've been:

He propagated the conspiracy theory that the apartment block explosions in Moscow, which was used to justify the 2nd Chechen war, was done by the FSB.

What I get for not copy-pasting from wiki...

You mean... the truth?

[HoreTore]

You mean... the truth?

What do you mean? That it's not true that Berezovskij believed in such a conspiracy, or that the conspiracy itself isn't true?

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Erm, the reverse of both those statements?

[HoreTore]

Erm, the reverse of both those statements?

I am pretty damn sure he supported that conspiracy theory, though I don't have a source at hand right now... I may have confused him with another of Russia's morally upstanding and corruption-free citizens. As for it being untrue, my opinion should be obvious given my use of the term "conspiracy theory". It's bollocks, of course.