Russia’s Top Tycoon Regains Lost Influence

Last month, Russian tycoon Boris A. Berezovsky was facing corruption charges, an arrest warrant and the prospect of exile on the French Riviera.

Today, Berezovsky is back in good graces at the Kremlin, helping to map out President Boris N. Yeltsin’s political strategy. And the man who wanted to rid the country of oligarchs such as Berezovsky--Prime Minister Yevgeny M. Primakov--is out of a job.

The sudden reversal of Berezovsky’s fortunes demonstrates again the resilience of Russia’s leading oligarch--a modern-day Rasputin who holds extraordinary influence over the presidential family. With Primakov out and Yeltsin exercising formidable powers, the tycoons often blamed for the country’s economic ruin appear to be regaining a significant role in government.

“The sacking of Primakov was masterminded by Berezovsky, and I think his influence over the Kremlin is still enormous,” Duma Deputy Vladimir N. Lysenko said. “Berezovsky and his influence will remain one of Russia’s biggest problems until the end of the president’s term.”

The oligarchs, who made their fortunes by dividing up the spoils of the Communist system, are now battling for influence in the government, political leaders said. Wednesday’s confirmation of Prime Minister Sergei V. Stepashin by the Duma, parliament’s lower house, has touched off a back-room scramble among rival oligarchs seeking to place their supporters in Stepashin’s new Cabinet.

“The government is being formed in the lobbies and behind the scenes by means of intrigue at the Kremlin,” said pro-market Yabloko faction leader Grigory A. Yavlinsky. “It is a confrontation between old and new oligarchs--some people who consider themselves politicians just because they can buy someone.”

Nikolai Kharitonov, head of the pro-Communist Agrarian Party, agrees. “Even though I am at the State Duma, I can hear the crunching of vertebrae from across the Kremlin wall. A fight for influence over the Cabinet of ministers is in full swing. And it seems to me, despite everything, Berezovsky is gaining the upper hand at this initial stage.”

Berezovsky said in an interview Friday that his role in influencing recent events is overstated by his critics and that the Cabinet is being formed by Yeltsin in accordance with the constitution.

“Today, Russia’s oligarchs are interested in stability and in the economic recovery of the country more than anyone else,” the tycoon told The Times. “The value of the property they own in Russia is measured not only in natural deposits, factories and plants, but also in the current political situation. If there is political instability, all this property is not worth anything.”

The clearest sign of Berezovsky’s leverage was Yeltsin’s appointment Friday of former Railway Minister Nikolai Y. Aksenenko to first deputy prime minister, where he will wield great power over the economy. Aksenenko is widely perceived as an ally of Berezovsky; the respected Kommersant Daily newspaper called him Berezovsky’s protege and said the tycoon had introduced him to the president’s family circle.

Yeltsin named to the interior minister post Vladimir Rushailo, a former deputy to Stepashin who also is widely believed to have ties to Berezovsky, although the Kremlin played down any connection Rushailo might have to the tycoon.

In another sign of the oligarch’s returning influence, Yeltsin reportedly was considering appointing banker Petr O. Aven to the post of special envoy to the International Monetary Fund and other foreign lending institutions.

Aven, president of Alfa Bank, is one of the original seven oligarchs led by Berezovsky who helped finance Yeltsin’s 1996 reelection campaign.

Afterward, two members of the group were given key government posts and the oligarchs profited handsomely from the privatization of state-owned holdings.

Berezovsky, a mathematician who made his initial fortune by taking over a profitable chain of car dealerships, often operates through allies and subordinates. His financial interests are not always apparent, but he is said to have a stake in a number of prominent Russian enterprises, including Aeroflot airlines.

Last month, Russian prosecutors charged him with money laundering and illegal business practices. Russia issued an arrest warrant while the tycoon was in France. Berezovsky voluntarily returned to Moscow to answer prosecutors’ questions. Officials agreed to drop the warrant.

Meanwhile, Prosecutor General Yuri Skuratov, who initiated the case, was suspended by Yeltsin after state television broadcast a video showing a man who looked like Skuratov having sex with two prostitutes.

Prosecutors also recently dropped an arrest warrant filed against banker Alexander P. Smolensky, another of the original seven oligarchs, after he returned from Vienna to answer questions on money laundering charges.

“Berezovsky may celebrate quite a victory,” said Duma Deputy Valery V. Greshnevikov. “The criminal investigations started against him and other oligarchs are in limbo. People who tried to oppose them in the government and the prosecutor’s office are all replaced or suspended from their duties. The oligarchs now have received a chance to escape all responsibility for what they have done with the country.”

Some attribute Primakov’s downfall to his taking on the oligarchs all at once to try to extract some of their wealth to help finance the struggling government. Some analysts said he would have had more success focusing on one at a time.

“The oligarchs hate Berezovsky so much they would have drowned him with tremendous joy,” observed the Moskovsky Komsomolets daily.

“But by having attacked everyone at the same time, Primakov in fact doomed himself to failure, while Berezovsky again managed to come out unscathed.”

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Alexei V. Kuznetsov and Sergei L. Loiko of The Times’ Moscow Bureau contributed to this report.