NEWSWEEK: Have you changed your mind about Putin? BEREZOVSKY: Putin before the elections and now are two different things. But I would still, today, vote for Putin if the other candidates were the same as then.
So why are you in opposition? We now have a good chance to create a constructive opposition. My only question is whether there are enough strong and courageous people to go into opposition publicly.
Why did you quit the Duma, where you had a chance to fight these bad laws? The Duma today is just the judicial department of the executive. An obedient majority has been created in the Duma. My arguments were ignored.
Are you afraid Putin will go after you? Putin is pragmatic. If he decides that he needs to, he will. Another question is if it will be legal or not.
What was your role in the Kremlin? Purely ideological. My political predictions were usually correct, but my personnel decisions were usually wrong. I never saw the media with which I am connected as a business–I saw them just as a means of political influence in order to make a normal country as I see it.
What are your political motivations? Maybe passion, emotions–I always find a rational explanation for myself but on the whole I think the point of life is expansion. I understand “expansion” as the creation of a life I consider right.
Do you consider yourself a businessman or a politician? For sure not a businessman. I think I understand myself as a politician.
Your fellow oligarchs accuse you of “privatizing” the Yeltsin family. The majority of our oligarchs are frightened rabbits. They can do business, but they are incapable of recognizing their political responsibilities. That is why they begin to throw accusations at those who do.
Do you see your future in Russia? Even when there was a warrant out for my arrest I still returned to Russia.
