LONDON, April 14 (UPI) -- Russia has asked Britain to extradite exiled tycoon Boris Berezovsky after he called for the overthrow of President Vladimir Putin.
In an interview with The Guardian, Berezovsky said he was funding people in Russia he hoped would oust Putin.
"We need to use force," he said. "There can be no change without force, pressure."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Berezovsky had forfeited any right to be treated as a refugee, the BBC reported.
The British Foreign Office issued a statement deploring his remarks.
Berezovsky later issued a clarification, saying he was not talking about a violent coup.
Berezovsky made a fortune buying state-owned property at insider prices following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and helped Putin rise to power. He fled to Britain in 2000 after he was warned Putin might have him killed.
