Most of the oligarchs got the message. Those who did not, like Boris Berezovsky, whose television station aired critical coverage of the government, were punished. Berezovsky was stripped of his media assets and forced into exile to avoid charges of fraud and embezzlement. When Mikhail Khodorkovsky, owner of the Yukos oil company and Russia’s richest man, continued to criticize Putin and finance opposition parties, he was arrested and charged with tax evasion, fraud, embezzlement, money laundering, and other crimes.
