Berezovsky Wants to Attend Patarkatsishvili Funeral

Boris Berezovsky told Rustavi 2 TV that he wanted to attend his “close friend” Badri Patarkatsishvili’s funeral on February 28 in Tbilisi.

He maintained that he had applied for a visa at the Georgian embassy in London, but had been told it would take a week to process, which would be too late.

Davit Bakradze, the Georgian foreign minister, declined to comment on the matter, saying that it was up to the Georgian embassy in London to decide.

Given that Berezovsky holds a British passport and does not therefore need a visa for short stay visits to Georgia, commentators have suggested that Berezovsky, wanted in Russia, was in fact seeking security guarantees.

An earlier Rustavi 2 TV report that Israeli President Shimon Peres would attend Patarkatsishvili’s funeral has been denied by Peres’ office.