The exiled oligarch Boris Berezovsky has another reason not to go home to Russia - he has been sentenced to six years in absentia on charges of embezzling more than £4m from the national airline, Aeroflot. The prosecution claimed that Berezovsky, who controlled the airline in the post-Soviet 1990s, was a member of an "organised criminal group" that stole Aeroflot's foreign currency earnings.

Berezovsky did not contest the charges, claiming they were trumped up by the Kremlin. He said he "didn't give a damn" about the trial and barred his lawyers from defending him.

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