Suffering from success

I have really enjoyed this book, The Age of Berezovsky. Cannot recommend it highly enough. It is basically a series of interviews an oligarch Petr Aven conducted with businessmen, politicians, journalists and other public figures of the 1990s. The book is centred around the colourful figure of Boris Berezovsky, and serves as an amazing crash intro into the history of the Soviet to Russian transition, as well, as a very nice collection of primary sources on the era.

As the same events are being discussed with various people, and each tells you his or her personal version of what was happening, the final result feels a bit Rashomon-ish. By the end of the book, you can make an educated guess - what are the interviewees lying about and why. For example, if a notable public figure starts telling something like; Oh, I never really knew Berezovsky. Never even met him. May be saw him once or twice from the distance. No, we never really talked, then you know:

1. He is lying. Not a word of what he just said is true

2. He is lying, because he had been a very, very close associate of the late oligarch. And when I say associate, I actually mean a shill, a vassal. A servant.

3. Now as the former Berezovsky’s servant switched allegiance, and now serves Putin, any kind of association with the former boss is a liability now. Much like St Peter, he repeats a formula of triple denial. Never knew. Never met him. No, we didn’t even talk.

Now that is the beauty of this book. As all the interviews are put near each other, you can read them all and cross compare. And when you do, you will notice that each and every of his former pawns and bootlickers, tells exactly the same, there is not even much variation in how they put it.

You see it once. You see it twice. And the next time you see it, you know:

Standard formula of triple denial

This book deserved a lengthy discussion & consideration. For a moment, I want to discuss just one minor aspect of it. The madness of Boris Berezovsky. Specifically, the story of how the ex oligarch lost all of his wealth.