Berezovsky complains to Putin that he had kept Russia’s top businessmen waiting an hour to meet him at what used to be Josef Stalin’s dachau and then said he was too busy to meet them.  Amongst other things Berezovsky says, “I put you there.  I found you.  I endorsed you.”  Interesting that Putin should choose this location with its Stalinist associations. At this point I started to admire Putin for his stance in resisting a corrupt businessman. 

There is this powerful discussion where Tom Hollander really lets rip as he calls Putin “a contemptible rat!”   Berezovsky’s revenge is for his television network to tell the truth about the submarine Kursk tragedy.  This anti-Putin success is greeted by Indiana Jones type music of celebration.  “Get In!” shouts Berezovsky but of course Putin decides to take over the television company and Berezovsky has to flee Russia. Meanwhile Abramovic is given a remote province to govern, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, near Alaska where all the visitors stay in Anchorage because the hotels are decent!  Whereas in this thriller Berezovsky is losing Putin’s allegiance, Abramovich’s star is on the up.  Berezovsky accuses Putin of having a policy of “statish authoritarianism and hatred of the West.” 

We know what happens to Litvinenko in London, see Lucy Prebble’s  A Very Expensive Poison.  Berezovsky suggests that it is quite possible that the Chechen terrorist incidents in Moscow were not carried out by Chechens but by someone who wanted to discredit them.