[JURIST] The Basmanny District Court in Moscow issued a new arrest warrant Tuesday for exiled business tycoon Boris Berezovsky [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] on charges that he allegedly embezzled an additional $13 million in credit funds from SBS-Agro Bank [EBRD profile], which he then owned, to purchase real estate in southern France. The UK has already denied repeated requests from Russia for the Berezovsky's extradition, as diplomatic tensions between the two countries rise. The new charges [JURIST report] were brought last week, with the Moscow City Court ordering the seizure of Berezovsky's French manor.
These are the latest in a series of charges brought against the Russian billionaire and alleged coup plotter. Earlier this month, a Moscow court began trying Berezovsky in absentia [JURIST report] for allegedly embezzling millions from Russian national airline Aeroflot [corporate website]. Berezovsky left Russia in 2001 after falling out of favor with Russian President Vladimir Putin [official website] for vocally opposing the war in Chechnya [Wikipedia backgrounder] and was granted asylum in Great Britain. Russian authorities have demanded that the UK extradite Berezovsky, who is also facing charges of allegedly plotting a coup [JURIST reports] against Putin. AP has more.