If Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) didn't have oligarch Boris Berezovsky (left), he would have had to invent him.
The saga of Boris Berezovsky has many lessons: that when the tectonic plates of Russian politics shift, change can be rapid and unforgiving; that the fall from the pinnacle of power can be extremely fast and perilously steep; that today's protege can become tomorrow's mortal adversary.
And many of the elements of the system Berezovsky lorded over in the 1990s -- the Byzantine clan battles, the intrigue and subterfuge, and the primacy of informal networks -- are still prevalent.
In the latest edition of the Power Vertical podcast, I discussed Berezovsky's legacy with co-hosts Kirill Kobrin of RFE/RL's Russian Service and NYU professor Mark Galeotti, author of the blog "In Moscow's Shadows."
