All language subtitles for Once.Upon.a.Time.in.Londongrad.S01E03.WEBRip.x264-ION10

MARK GALEOTTI:
From Putin's point of view...

..there is a difference
between an enemy and a traitor.

Enemies, you fight.

But someday you hope to be able

to make some kind of
a peace with them.

Traitors, though...

..you can do nothing
with traitors.

All you can do is wipe them out
or they'll stab you in the back.

(RADIO TUNING)

REPORTER: A murder investigation
into the death

of another Russian
on British soil.

(BIG BEN CHIMES)

♪ HIP-HOP THEME SONG PLAYING

REPORTER: He told his uncle
a fortnight before he died,

"If anything happens to me
in the next two weeks,

it won't be an accident."

♪ RAPPING IN RUSSIAN

MAN: London is levitating
on a sea of dirty money.

MAN: If you deal with somebody

who has a very
suspicious track record,

someday it will come back
to haunt you.

(POLICE SIREN WAILING)

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

(MAN SPEAKING IN RUSSIAN)

ALEX GOLDFARB: While in Russia,

Boris Berezovsky was probably worth

about $10 billion.

Well, when he moved to London,

he was probably worth
about a billion.

MARTIN SIXSMITH: Not only did he
lose his financial standing,

he also lost face.

The idea that you have to maintain
your standing in life

is very deeply engraved
in the Russian psyche.

He'd left under a cloud.

He'd lost the influence
he had in Russia.

There was a void inside him.

And the only way, really,
he could fill it...

..was to foment the revolution,

the coup against Putin,
which would bring him the revenge,

would bring him the vindication

which he felt he was due.

My strategy and tactic
is the same now,

to change Putin's regime,
political.

Very dangerous for Russia
and for the world.

There is the beginning
of revolution.

There is no end of revolution.

(LAUGHS)

HEIDI BLAKE: Wherever there was
trouble being made for Putin,

you peel back a layer
and there's Berezovsky.

(LAUGHTER)

He was there financing the
Orange Revolution in Ukraine.

REPORTER: For four days now,
tens of thousands of people

supporting the opposition leader

have been protesting on the
streets of the capital Kiev.

The Ukrainians came to him
and asked for money.

Most of this money
went to sustain

the sitting in the square in Kiev.

REPORTER:
How critical is this moment

in not just Ukraine's future,
but Russia's future?

It means that Putin is criminal,

and I think that he understands
himself already that.

He was behind a whole number
of the colour revolutions

that swept across the
former Soviet bloc

and was such a threat
to Putin's government.

From the outset, he started
using whatever money he had

for undermining Putin's regime -

that's how he hired me.

He viewed himself

as part of the Western campaign

against Putin's dictatorship,

and he did everything
and spent the bulk of his money

on trying to educate
the powers that be.

I ask you to give a very warm
welcome to Mr Boris Berezovsky.

(APPLAUSE)

Thank you very much,
ladies and gentlemen.

Russia, Russia will collapse,

or Putin will collapse.

(FADES OUT)
MARTIN SIXSMITH: In Russia,

he'd done very well
because he'd been a man

who could manipulate the system.

He had economic power
and he had political power,

but he found that in the West
that it didn't work that way,

that the business deals
he'd pulled off in Russia

were just not happening here.

Berezovsky began to think
of other methods

that he could use
to regain power.

(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)

TOM WARREN: Around Berezovsky,

there's this whole constellation
of people.

First and foremost is Badri.

Boris and Badri were soulmates.

They were incredibly close friends.

Boris never made any
important decisions

without consulting with Badri.

TOM WARREN: The key relationship
in all of it

on the Russian side is Badri,
and on the British side is Scot.

HEIDI BLAKE: Scot was his fixer,

finding ways to help him
spend his money in the UK

while he was under an international
arrest warrant.

TOM WARREN: Berezovsky used
to call him "my love".

They're out and one of Scot's
friends picks up the phone,

and Boris Berezovsky is like,
"My love, my love.

You must help me." Like,
"They've taken the Phantom of Love."

And Scot's friend turns to him
and is like...

"What the fuck is the
Phantom of Love?"

And Scot said, "Oh, like,

it's a luxury Rolls-Royce
that I bought for him."

It was a vintage car
from the '50s

and evidently it had been stolen.

KAVEH: Scot threw a party
which Bill Clinton came to.

He made sure his photographs
were all over the media,

drinking with Bill.

JIMMY CREED: There's a photo
of him and President Clinton.

Have you seen that?

TOM WARREN:
Scot knew a lot of rich people.

As you do bigger and bigger
property deals,

you need more investment
and you accrue more debt.

And that means
that if you ever slip

and one of those
developments goes wrong

and people don't get
their money back,

then it's all over,
you're out in the cold.

YULI DUBOV: It was very hard
to frighten Boris.

When his opposition
to Putin started...

..I think he felt the threat,
but he never was afraid.

When he was granted asylum,

it was his first victory
in his fight with Putin

and was very important for him.

He suddenly felt that
now he's protected...

..and he felt that he can do
whatever he wants.

ALEX GOLDFARB: In London,
he tried to make some money

by investing 10 million here,
20 million there,

and that always fell through

because the Russians
were watching him,

and the moment news came

that he is trying to get
into some businesses,

all hell broke loose.

We need to talk money

and how much
we are willing to spend.

I agree we should talk
about money.

But we should also talk
about specific projects.

RICHARD HOLMES: It would be
an incredibly risky move

for Boris to try and
invest back in Moscow,

knowing full well that
that would anger Putin.

But if you have this
London-based property tycoon

who's running around the world
helping him do this

and facilitating this,

as the risks were high,
so clearly were the rewards.

HEIDI: Project Moscow was
a property development

in the heart of the Russian capital.

It was going to be
a gleaming tower block

full of retail units
and office blocks

and some residential units.

Tom Warren is very excited
to tell you about this.

Classic Scot scheme.

There's this plot in the middle
of Moscow, right.

It's government-owned,
old civil defence buildings.

We'll buy it, we'll knock
it down, build it up,

walk away with the money.

He went into business
with Ruslan Formichev,

who's a young financier.

HEIDI: Ruslan organised the
Russian side of the investment

in Project Moscow, and Scot Young
was going to bring in

British investors
into the scheme.

Scot had made a commitment
to come up with

about £26 million to put
into Project Moscow.

TOM WARREN: He was so desperate
to get the deal done

that he personally guaranteed
the investors' money,

which meant that if
the deal went south,

he would be on the hook
for all of it.

He was always building
on a house of cards,

borrowing, leveraging
against that borrowing,

with the idea that
a large funnel of money

was coming from this Project Moscow.

Ultimately, everyone would get
their payday, including him,

and everything would be settled
once this deal went through.

TOM: Scot's committed
to put 26 million

into Project Moscow,

but he can't make it,
you know, he's struggling.

Scot needs more, right?
So who else has got money?

Who else puts money into the pot?

Boris Berezovsky.

It would be insane for Boris

to make an investment in Russia
in his own name.

So they designed this
convoluted deal, right,

where Boris Berezovsky

gives a house to Scot, right,

and then Scot remortgages
the property,

takes the money

and puts it into Project Moscow
in his own name.

It's convoluted, it's a pain.

And it was genius,
because it's Berezovsky's money,

except by the time it went
into Project Moscow,

it looked like it was Scot's.

And it's audacious,

but maybe it's crazy enough to work.

HEIDI BLAKE: Formichev told Scot

that he needed to come up
with his side of the cash

because Formichev had a meeting
with the mayor of Moscow,

who's known to be very dangerous.

RICHARD HOLMES: Formichev is
expecting money from Scot,

but it's just not
coming through.

TOM WARREN:
Ruslan got the money together.

Scot, he struggled to get
the money together,

and he starts robbing
Peter to pay Paul.

RICHARD HOLMES: He seems
to be trapped in a web

of sort of debt
and not finding a way out.

HEIDI BLAKE: He just couldn't
come up with the money.

RICHARD: You suddenly have
all these agreements

and all these deals that
fall flat on their face.

A whole load of dominoes

fall right on top of Scot Young

and have all these people
asking for their money back,

and then finally Formichev
says the deal's off,

and then Scot has to try

and pay back all these people

with money that's never
materialised.

(UPBEAT JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING)

STEPHEN KAY:
I'm going to go biblical here.

"Put not your trust in
kings and princes."

That's the moral of the story.

(MOBILE PHONE RINGS)

Excuse me, gotta take this.

I'm Stephen Kay...
Yep?

I'm in the film business
and property business.

Listen, I'm just filming
at the moment.

We still on for dinner? Yeah?

Look...
nothing would surprise me,

but one has got to accept the fact
that business is done in Russia,

should we say, differently to
how it is done anywhere else.

What is unacceptable in America
or unacceptable in England

or in Germany is possibly quite
acceptable in Moscow.

Project Moscow was four or five
pieces of industrial land

put together to make one big piece.

The plan was retail shops
and apartments.

It was a pretty fair-sized scheme.

You know, if everybody had done
their homework properly, right,

nobody would have been
an investor in this.

What you have here is a tragedy.

The man was a successful businessman,

he had a nice family.

I think he started mixing
with people,

who, nothing wrong with them,

but he was mixing in a society

which had huge amounts
of money to spend,

and I think he tried to
emulate other people...

..and started chasing deals
which were...

beyond his capabilities.

It doesn't take a long time
to get into trouble.

HEIDI BLAKE:
The collapse of Project Moscow

is this major inflection
point in the story.

It's the moment when Scot Young
suddenly falls from grace

and goes from doing
multi-million-pound deals

on behalf of super rich individuals

to suddenly going bankrupt
and saying

he has not two pennies
to rub together.

RICHARD HOLMES:
The Russian prosecutors

went after Scot
for economic crimes.

HEIDI: It put Scot Young
firmly on the radar

of the Russian authorities.

And like what,
Russia's intelligence agency

had their own files on Scot,

phone intercepts,
surveillance stuff.

RICHARD HOLMES:
They monitored his calls.

They had checks at the border
so that it would flag up

whenever Scot Young
came into Moscow.

HEIDI: Scot Young knew that
Berezovsky's involvement

exposed him and the other
investors to risk.

The FSB continued to pursue
that interest in Scot

as a front man for Berezovsky,

which was a really dangerous
link in the chain

for everybody
who'd been involved.

Boris Berezovsky was an
incredibly complex personality,

and I think he did have
a fatal flaw.

It was a man who allowed himself
to become obsessive about things.

He didn't know when to call it a day.

ALEX GOLDFARB: Boris viewed himself

as part of the Western campaign

against Putin's dictatorship.

It turned out that the Brits

do not consider him
one of their own.

There is this conspiracy
against Russia,

and Boris believed that he is
part of this brotherhood.

HEIDI BLAKE: Boris announced
that he was planning

a revolution in Russia and he
was intending to bring about

the overthrow of Vladimir Putin.

BORIS: We need to use force
to change this regime.

Because first of all, this regime
is anti-constitutional.

It means that I call to use force

to re-create constitutional
regime again.

This, obviously, a hugely
incendiary statement,

which really caused massive
consternation in Russia

and caused real waves in the UK.

The Home Secretary said that
people who made those statements

were bringing their asylum
status into jeopardy.

And it was made clear to Boris that
if he kept on stoking trouble

from the UK, he might not be
allowed to remain here.

You can cause friction

between the British government
and Mr Putin.

What... Are you really worth it?

What do you give back
to Britain in return?

I will help British people

to open eyes and to understand
who is in front of them.

Boris kept enraging the Kremlin
and kept, you know,

inflaming the difficulties
that he already faced.

RICHARD: The key link
was between Berezovsky

and a man called
Alexander Litvinenko.

ALEX GOLDFARB:
Litvinenko was an FSB officer

who went against the FSB.

He decided to hold a
national press conference,

accusing their agency

of a whole bunch of crimes.

ALEXANDER NEKRASSOV:
Three former KGB officers

announced that Boris Berezovsky
was a target

of the Russian intelligence

that was supposedly
trying to kill him.

One of these three officers

was Alexander Litvinenko.

ALEX GOLDFARB: Litvinenko
was a political exile,

like Berezovsky.

HEIDI: Litvinenko fled to the UK
with Boris Berezovsky's help.

Litvinenko was really
a central part

of Berezovsky's global chess game
against Vladimir Putin.

Berezovsky had been financing
his activities,

investigating the
Kremlin's involvement

in a number of terrorist
outrages in Russia

to try to bring Putin down.

People who dealt with Berezovsky

were of a certain disposition.

You must understand,
if you deal with somebody

who has a very, very
suspicious track record,

whose money is not exactly clean...

..you have to understand

that there will be problems.

They may be billionaires,
but they're still hustlers

and sometimes very
dangerous hustlers.

Because when you go
into this world

where people set up each other,

betray each other,

where people are used to dealing

with criminal elements,

someday it will come back
to haunt you.

- Thank you.
- REPORTER: Boris. (CAMERAS CLICKING)

My name is Marina Litvinenko,

and my husband is
Alexander Litvinenko.

What he did, it wasn't against
his own country.

It wasn't against Russian people.

He always believed one day

he would be able to
go back to Russia.

But one day

he became extremely
and suddenly ill.

It was unbelievable.

After two days, from very healthy,
very strong man,

he became completely powerless.

After 13 days, they realised
he was poisoned.

He was transferred to
intensive care hospital.

And when I was ready to leave
the room and I said,

"Sasha, I have to go," and it was
very difficult for him to talk,

but suddenly he said,

"Marina, I love you so much."

I didn't know it was his
last words for me.

The British police found
polonium by chance

on the 21st day

after Sasha was poisoned.

HEIDI BLAKE:
At a meeting at a London hotel..

..Andrei Lugovoi,
along with Dmitry Kovtun,

poisoned Litvinenko's tea

with this radioactive substance.

YULI DUBOV:
Lugovoi was on assignment

and he was a double agent.

MARTIN SIXSMITH: Lugovoi knew
Berezovsky, he knew Litvinenko,

and he had used that
old friendship

to inveigle himself into the
Berezovsky-Litvinenko circle

in London.

Litvinenko thought he was
having a cup of tea

with two old friends.

MARINA: From moment
Sasha digested this polonium,

he has no chance to survive

because it was so high.

This is perhaps the first instance

that a terrorist act
has been perpetrated

on the Western soil

using nuclear material.

REPORTER: Tonight, searches for
radioactive material continue

in London after the authorities
call the poisoning by polonium-210

unprecedented in Britain.

REPORTER: The police moved in
on the places across London

where Alexander Litvinenko
spent his final few weeks.

REPORTER: 24 venues
are being monitored.

REPORTER: Two British Airways planes
contaminated with radioactivity.

REPORTER: There are now tens
of thousands of people

all across Europe who,
in one way or another,

have a direct interest in the
death of Alexander Litvinenko.

And it really was the most
high-profile political assassination.

BORIS BEREZOVSKY:
Tell me please, someone of you,

how it is possible to produce
polonium without state involvement?

How it's possible to transport
polonium without state involvement?

How it's possible to put polonium
in the cup of tea of Litvinenko

without state involvement?
And, finally,

I think everybody recognise
how state,

Russian state,
tried to protect Putin.

Nobody was in any doubt,
even at the outset,

as to where the responsibility
for this lay, because...

the availability of polonium to
anyone outside the Russian state

would be so extraordinary

that it made it most unlikely

that it hadn't been sanctioned
at a high level within Russia.

It sends out a very clear message

that not only does Russia

want to murder people with
whom it disagrees

or it considers their traitors,

but that they are prepared
to do this in a way

which was clearly designed

to be detected.

MARTIN SIXSMITH: For Berezovsky,
that is a real warning shot.

If you're in a position where
that's happened to you,

you are going to be scared.

The first thing I heard
from Boris about this,

"Now they will, uh...

will be killing us one by one."

Shortly thereafter,
Badri Patarkatsishvili

died suddenly of a heart attack.

He was Boris Berezovsky's
closest business partner.

They did everything together and
all of their interests were joint.

There were also grounds to suspect
that foul play was a factor here,

given that Badri was
so frightened for his life

in the weeks before his death
that he'd hired 120 bodyguards

to guard him and told friends he
believed he'd be assassinated.

After his death, Berezovsky was
left financially destitute,

because Patarkatsishvili handled all
of their joint business affairs.

That really neutered
Berezovsky's ability

to fund political activities
opposing Putin.

And this was really the start
of his unravelling.

YULI DUBOV:
Boris had a visit from police...

..who told him that a man was
coming from Russia to kill him.

REPORTER: Berezovsky, are you
living in fear of your life?

Uh, look if I will tell you
that I don't afraid,

it will be hypocrisy.

The other question is, am I
preparing to be killed or not?

This is the correct question, yeah?
I am prepared.

REPORTER: Mr Berezovsky says he
doesn't know who the hitman was.

His would-be assassin
was deported to Russia.

Boris was squaring up
for a big fight

with another oligarch,
Roman Abramovich.

And although he believed
he was going to win

and was in line for a
multi-billion dollar pay-out...

He got absolutely ruined in court.
The judge said he was unreliable,

he wasn't a good witness.

The amount of money that was
poured into that legal battle

must of been millions
upon millions.

At the end of that process,
he was really crestfallen,

he fell into a depression.

HEIDI BLAKE: Berezovsky's
circumstances were so diminished

that he had to lay off his
very extensive security team.

He was incredibly well protected
for many years,

but he was so broke that he
just had one bodyguard left.

But, also, he'd been reduced
to living with his ex-wife.

He'd really lost almost everything.

YULI DUBOV:
He said a very sad thing to me.

He said that, "I'm losing
the purpose in my life."

He's not seeing the reason,

the sense,

the meaning in his life.

It was absolutely, hmm...

..unexpected from Boris.

Yesterday, you have been
very, very rich,

very, very known, you're being
courted by journalists

from all over the world because
they've been asking your opinion

on political events.

And today...

you stop being interesting
to people.

They cannot get any money from you.
They cannot get any new information
from you.

So, yes, of course,
it was a very abrupt

and very sudden change for him.

He was in very bad shape,

but it was not hopeless.

He still had assets
which could be sold,

and he would have enough money...

..for a nice and pleasant

and comfortable life.

REPORTER: The Russian tycoon
Boris Berezovsky

was found dead yesterday.

REPORTER: The 67-year-old was found
dead on the bathroom floor.

REPORTER: Boris Berezovsky was
one of Russia's richest men

who went on to become one
of the most vocal critics

of Vladimir Putin.

REPORTER: Police say there
is no evidence to suggest

that anyone else was involved
in his death.

REPORTER: The family are still
suspicious of the view

that Mr Berezovsky took his own life.

YULI DUBOV: There are two kinds
of impossibilities.

There is a physical impossibility,

which is generally accepted
as a proof

that something couldn't happen

because it was physically
impossible.

But there is another kind
of impossibility

which is also very important.

It's a psychological impossibility.

If something is impossible
for a person

because he just cannot do it

in his mind,

it's still an impossibility.

For Boris to kill himself...

..was psychologically impossible.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

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