Greece arrests Russian businessman
A former Russian media mogul who clashed with the Kremlin and fled under fraud accusations three years ago was in Greek custody after being arrested during an airport check, authorities announced tonight.
Vladimir Gusinsky, whose former empire included the independent NTV television station, was detained on Thursday after arriving from Tel Aviv, Israel, where he has lived since April 2001.
His name appeared on an Interpol wanted list for fraud of up to €250m, Athens airport authorities said.
Gusinsky, who became one of Russia’s best-known oligarchs after the fall of communism, is scheduled to appear before a Greek prosecutor on Monday.
The reason for the delay in announcing his arrest was not immediately clear.
Russia initially sought Gusinsky on charges of misrepresenting the assets of his company Media-Most to obtain a loan from the government-controlled gas giant Gazprom.
It later added allegations of money laundering.
In 2001, Gazprom took over Gusinsky’s media holdings led by NTV – formerly Russia’s main nationwide, independent network.
The move was widely criticised as a blow to media freedom in Russia and considered possible retaliation for NTV’s relentless coverage of the war in Chechnya and unflattering reports on President Vladimir Putin.
The potential political clout of wealthy Russians such as Gusinsky has also rattled Russian leaders.
Gusinsky, who holds both Russian and Israeli passports, claims the charges against him are politically motivated.
But Gazprom and Russian officials insist its media take-overs are strictly business matters stemming from huge loans to Gusinsky.
He has already side-stepped one attempt by Russia to get him back. Gusinsky was arrested in December 2000 at his home in Spain.
But a Spanish court refused in 2001 to extradite him, saying the grounds for the case wouldn’t amount to a crime in Spain.
He then flew to Israel on a private plane. Israeli officials were initially slow to move on Russian demands for Gusinsky, but it was not known why he decided to travel to Greece – a nation with deeper cultural and business ties to Russia.
It was not immediately clear how Greek authorities would rule on possible extradition.
Gusinsky started out as a provincial theatre director and then organised performances in Siberia in the early 1980s.
As economic reforms sprouted in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, Gusinsky began his transformation from the stage to the corridors of power.
First he dealt in office furniture and computers, then real estate and later as a consultant to American businesses on Russia’s complicated and often chaotic business climate.
In 1989, he founded the Most commercial bank, which was the first in Russia to offer customers credit cards.
Soon, he and other newly minted tycoons had the attention of Russia’s most influential figures.
Former President Boris Yeltsin consulted Gusinsky on key decisions, and NTV coverage is credited with helping Yeltsin win re-election in 1996.
But relations again soured between Gusinsky and the Kremlin as he resumed critical coverage of the battles against separatists in Chechnya.
Critics also see the charges against Gusinsky as part of Putin’s campaign to keep big business out of politics. Putin once vowed to get rid of oligarchs “as a class.”
NTV still takes a more critical line than the state-controlled media, but the sharp criticism declined significantly after the takeover.
Gusinsky is not the only Russian tycoon to fall from grace.
Boris Berezovsky, a one-time Kremlin insider who went into exile after Putin came to power, was charged last year with stealing automobiles from the Russian automaker AvtoVaz in 1994-95 to help build his business empire.
Berezovsky also claims the charges are politically motivated.
British police arrested Berezovsky in March. He was released on bail pending extradition hearings, which could take years.
