The Yeltsin Clan’s Onetime Rasputin in Hot Water Now

In a tantalizing episode of palace intrigue, the man long considered the most powerful of Russia’s tycoons because of his cozy friendship with President Boris N. Yeltsin’s family appears to have fallen foul of the Yeltsins amid allegations that one of his companies bugged and spied on them.

The manipulative and energetic Boris A. Berezovsky, so much one of Russia’s so-called oligarchs that he practically invented the term, once commanded a $3-billion empire with interests in the media, oil, automobiles and the airline Aeroflot. But now the glitter is wearing off the star of a man once tagged a modern-day Rasputin because of his influence over the first family.

At his peak, Berezovsky was credited with the power to make and break prime ministers, and he boasted that he led a group of seven oligarchs in bankrolling Yeltsin’s 1996 election victory. But he lost out last year when Yeltsin, in a compromise with Communist lawmakers, was forced to appoint as prime minister Yevgeny M. Primakov, who doesn’t let the tycoons call the shots.

Russian prosecutors said Wednesday that a raid the day before on an oil company linked to the tycoon had uncovered evidence that phone conversations of presidential family members were tapped. Deputy Prosecutor General Mikhail B. Katyshev hinted that some “important people” will face trial.

After details of the alleged bugging came to light Wednesday, the Yeltsin family turned on Berezovsky. In a swift move, the president’s son-in-law, Valery Okulov--the head of Aeroflot--fired top officials of the company who were loyal to Berezovsky.

“Now that the family has publicly denied him protection, Berezovsky may be in for a lot of nasty surprises, the nastiest of which could be ending up behind bars,” political analyst Andrei A. Piontkovsky said.

Authorities said Tuesday’s raid was prompted by a recent report in the Moscow daily Moskovsky Komsomolets that said that police last year found tapes of conversations in the office of Atoll, a security firm that the newspaper said is owned by Berezovsky. The tapes were labeled “The Family” and “Tanya”--an apparent reference to Tatyana Dyachenko, Yeltsin’s younger daughter and his closest political advisor.

Amid the murky, eddying waters of Kremlin intrigue, analysts have been left guessing whether the recent events signal a clear break between the first family and Berezovsky, whose influence reportedly comes from his financial ties to the Yeltsin clan. Some suggest that Berezovsky’s public humiliation is a sign that Primakov is asserting his power over Berezovsky after a recent war of words between the two.

Either way, the once-untouchable Berezovsky appears more vulnerable than ever before. The Russian economic collapse has taken a heavy toll on his empire.

But it may be too early to write off Berezovsky, who in the past has escaped assassination attempts and weathered political setbacks. Alexei A. Mukhin, the author of a book on the Yeltsins, said the family obviously wanted to punish Berezovsky publicly. But he predicted that Berezovsky will survive.

“The family cannot just get rid of the tycoon like that,” he said. “There is too much money involved in their common deals.”

On Tuesday, Yeltsin left the sanitarium where he has been recuperating from a bleeding ulcer and made an appearance at the Kremlin to accept the resignation of Prosecutor General Yuri I. Skuratov.

The move touched off speculation that Yeltsin had dumped the prosecutor because he had been soft in pursuing charges against Berezovsky. The prosecutor’s office said Skuratov, 47, was resigning because of heart problems.

With Skuratov’s removal, the prosecutors immediately staged a raid with elite Alpha anti-terrorist troops on Sibneft, an oil company associated with Berezovsky. During the raid, authorities said, they found evidence that conversations involving the Yeltsins had been tapped.

Berezovsky, whose affairs are wrapped in secrecy, insists that he has disassociated himself from Sibneft and remains only an “advisor.”

Some analysts said they see the recent attack on Berezovsky as part of an attempt by Primakov to consolidate his power.

“In this conflict, Primakov demonstrated that he is a far stronger fighter than Berezovsky,” said Andrei V. Kolesnikov, political editor of the newspaper Izvestia. “He [Berezovsky] was just trampled on and left behind to lick his wounds and to weave new schemes to try to regain his rapidly diminishing influence over the Kremlin.”

Sergei L. Loiko of The Times’ Moscow Bureau contributed to this report.