A film shown Tuesday on the state-owned Rossiya 1 channel claimed to have found the mastermind behind the Pussy Riot controversy: Boris A. Berezovsky, the exiled Russian tycoon living in London. The second installment of “Provocateurs,†a film by the journalist Arkady Mamontov, suggests that Mr. Berezovsky financed the punk band in order to destabilize Russian society.
The film quotes a Moscow-based religious activist, Alexey Veshnyak, saying that Mr. Berezovsky had been plotting the punk band's performance in Christ the Savior Cathedral since at least 2011, providing money and strategic guidance. Mr. Veshnyak says that Mr. Berezovsky shared his plans with him in London that February, pointing to photos of the band member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and her husband, Pyotr Verzilov, and saying, “We will soon start acting in the church's direction.â€
Mr. Mamontov also cited a letter said to have been obtained from an aspiring singer whose name is not disclosed “for safety reasons.†The letter describes the young woman's brief encounter with a recruiter advertising a mysterious Western-financed project about five years ago:
“The project was supposed to appeal to young people in order to use these people for other goals like a herd of fanatics. The clients, it turned out, were some Americans, and they were ready to pay good money. When I wondered if they were afraid of Putin at all, they replied that there's enough money for a revolution.â€
The film also claims that internationa l celebrities are being lavishly paid to publicly support the band, using funds from Mr. Berezovsky funneled through a Britain-based public relations firm.
Pro-Kremlin commentators have long suggested that Russia's opposition is manipulated from behind the scenes by Mr. Berezovsky, a longtime political enemy of President Vladimir V. Putin. His fortune is estimated at $800 million even after his legal loss to Roman A. Abramovich last week.
