No radiation in Russian tycoon death

Police cordon off roads near the UK home of Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who was found dead in "unclear" circumstances.

The Russian tycoon was reportedly found dead at his London home. Picture: AP/Sang Tan Source: AP

RADIATION experts found no hazardous materials in their search of the property where former Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky's body was found.

British police are investigating the unexplained death of the self-exiled tycoon who had a bitter falling out with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Berezovsky, who fled to Britain in the early 2000s, was found dead on Saturday at the property in Ascot, a town 40 kilometers west of London. He was 67, and Thames Valley police say his death is being treated as "unexplained."

Police said on Sunday that officers specially trained in chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials have given the scene the "all clear."

"Officers found nothing of concern in the property and we are now progressing the investigation as normal," a statement from police said, adding that the majority of the cordon put in place around the property has now been lifted.

A mathematician-turned-Mercedes dealer, Berezovsky amassed his wealth during Russia's chaotic privatization of state assets in the early 1990s.

Once a member of Russian President Boris Yeltsin's inner circle, Berezovsky fell out with Yeltsin's successor, Putin, and fled Britain to escape fraud charges that he said were politically motivated.

He became a strident and frequent critic of Putin, accusing the leader of ushering in a dictatorship, and accused the security services of organizing the 1999 apartment house bombings in Moscow and two other Russian cities that became a pretext for Russian troops to sweep into Chechnya for the second war there in half a decade.

Putin's spokesman acknowledged on Sunday that the Russian president considered Berezovsky an enemy with clearly stated intentions to fight.

"We know for certain that he spared no expense in support of processes, within Russia and beyond, that could be said to have been directed against Russia and Putin," spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on the independent cable television channel Rain. "He definitely was Putin's opponent, and unfortunately not only his political opponent, but most likely in other dimensions as well."

In recent years, Berezovsky fended off legal attacks that often bore political undertones - and others that bit into his fortune.

Russia repeatedly sought to extradite on Berezovksy on a wide variety of criminal charges, and the tycoon vehemently rejected allegations over the years that he was linked to several deaths, including that of slain journalist Anna Politkovskaya and ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko.

Berezovsky won a libel case in 2010 against a Kremlin-owned broadcaster that aired a show in which it was suggested he was behind the poisoning of Litvinenko, who had fled Russia with Berezovsky's help after accusing officials there of plotting to assassinate political opponents.

Hi son-in-law, Egor Schuppe, said Berezovsky was depressed and had failed to keep in touch with friends and acquaintances, broadcaster Russia Today reported.

The tycoon was involved in a bitter multi-million pound legal battle with fellow tycoon and Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich last year.

He sought more than $A4.39 billion in damages from Abramovich after accusing his rival of blackmail, breach of trust and breach of contract.

He lost the case and subsequently agreed to pay Abramovich $51.23 million in legal costs.

Berezovsky also ran up $365,898 in costs in a legal battle with his former partner, Elena Gorbunova, with whom he had two children.

Berezovsky's colourful past is likely to prompt intense speculation about his death - he was paranoid about plots against his life, and in 1995 he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt that decapitated his driver.

His lawyer told Russian state television that he had been informed by contacts in London that Berezovsky had killed himself.

"Berezovsky has been in a terrible state as of late. He was in debt. He felt destroyed,'' said Dobrovinsky. "He was forced to sell his paintings and other things.''

However, the oligarch's friend Demyan Kudryavtsev firmly denied that Berezovsky had killed himself.

"No! This is not so!'' he was quoted as saying by the Prime news agency in Russia.

"Nobody knows this. There are no external signs of a suicide. There are no signs that he injected himself or swallowed any pills. No one knows why his heart stopped.''

Born January 23, 1946, in Moscow, Berezovsky trained in forestry and worked as an academic for nearly two decades before becoming one of the super-rich oligarchs who dominated Russia in the 1990s.

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