Nikolai Glushkov: Who was the exiled Russian businessman murdered in London?

Magnate rose to prominence in 1990s and was a close friend of a well known critic of Vladimir Putin

Glushkov was an associate of the oligarch Boris Berezovsky

Police have launched a murder probe into the death of exiled Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkov after a pathologist said he died from “compression to the neck”.

The 68-year-old’s body was found at his home in New Malden, south-west London.

His death came a week after former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with a highly toxic nerve agent in Salisbury.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson suggested that was “overwhelmingly likely” that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered the attack on the former double agent.

Although police said they had not found evidence connecting the two attacks, the revelation that Glushkov was murdered fuels speculation the Kremlin is systematically killing its enemies living in exile in the UK.

But who was Glushkov and what was his relationship with Moscow?

Rise of a business magnate

Born in 1949 in what was then the Soviet Union, he later studied physics at the People’s Friendship University of Russia in Moscow, gaining a doctorate in 1980.

He went on to gain notoriety during Russia’s transition to a market economy in the 1990s and was a close friend of Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, a one time ally and later prominent critic of Mr Putin.

Berezovsky, was found dead in 2013 at his mansion in Sunninghill, Berkshire. A post-mortem examination ruled that his death was consistent with hanging but a coroner recorded an open verdict.

Berezovsky was also a friend of murdered spy Alexander Litvinenko, who died after he was poisoned with the radioactive substance polonium-210. It is thought that it was slipped into his tea by a pair of Russian agents, who he met on the day he fell ill.

Glushkov worked for Berezovsky’s LogoVaz car company in Russia, before becoming the first deputy general director for Russia’s flag carrier Aeroflot in the late 1990s.

Fraud allegations

A 1996 article by Forbes claimed Mr Glushkov was convicted in 1982 for theft of state property in Russia. The report raised questions about whether Glushkov and Berezovsky had been siphoning money from the state carrier.

The pair later accused Forbes of libel and the case was settled out of court, but in 1999, Aeroflot was raided and both Glushkov and Berezovsky were accused of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the airline.

Glushkov was convicted of money laundering and fraud and was sentenced in 2004 to time served. By that time he had spent five years in jail.

Berezovsky meanwhile, was not jailed and fled to the UK in self-imposed exile.

After he was freed, Glushkov was handed a two-year suspended sentence for another fraud charge. He followed his oligarch friend to the UK where he sought political asylum, which was granted in 2010.

Dispute between Berezovsky and Abramovich

In 2011, Glushkov gave evidence in a court case brought by Berezovsky against the owner of Chelsea football club Roman Abramovich, a close associate of Mr Putin.

Berezovsky accused the Chelsea owner of cheating him out of millions of dollars when they were partners in an oil firm in the 1990s.

The judge ruled in Mr Abramovich’s favour and described Berezovsky as “deliberately dishonest”. Berezovsky reportedly lost a great deal of money following the ruling and he fell into a depression.

Glushkov launched a formal appeal against the decision, claiming judicial bias.

Death of Berezovsky

After Berezovsky was found hanged in the bathroom of his Berkshire home in 2013, Glushkov said at the time he doubted his friend had killed himself.

“I’m definite Boris was killed. I have quite different information from what is being published in the media,” he told The Guardian.

Now, Berezovsky’s death is among up to 14 being reviewed by police and MI5 in light of the nerve agent attack on Mr Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury.

Glushkov wanted in Russia

In 2016 Britain refused a request from Russia to extradite him on fraud charges relating to his period at Aeroflot. Glushkov remained at the top of Russia’s wanted list until his death.

Last year, he was sentenced to eight years imprisonment and a 1 million ruble fine in absentia for the alleged fraud.

Glushkov was due to attend a commercial court hearing on Monday morning, but did not arrive, sparking concerns among friends who later confirmed his death.