BBC

---

The Russian billionaire Sergei Pugachev , Alexandra Tolstoy met when she was tasked to teach him English

you would stay in his Chateau in The South of France and had houses all over The World . It was an idyllic Life , beyond any imagination.

Countess Alexandra Tolstoy , an aristocratic English woman, had her own Fairy Tale come true, when she fell in love with The Man of her dreams in 2008, an oligarch and Russia, one of the richest men, Sergei Pugachev .

Then, everything turned into A Nightmare .

The Story begins five years ago in London, where the two were living in enviable luxury in your spacious Chelsea home with her three young children.

"We have a PA, Two Drivers , two maids, an English nanny, and a Russian nanny, and as a French teacher for homework", count of Alexandra , as she gives a tour of her home.

"We moved in here shortly after I had my first baby. Then we bought The House Next Door . "

In happier times: Sergei Pugachev and Alexandra Tolstoy lived between London, Russia, and also in Paris

that Tolstoy had a privileged childhood; her father was a distant relative of writer Leo Tolstoy and Alexandra , attended an elite Boarding School before working as a broker in The City .

But soon she left Her Job and started a travel company, exploring the former Soviet Union , Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan, and the marriage with a Cossack-riders in The Process .

Unfortunately, it didn't take.

A few years later, when Alexandra and Her Husband were struggling to make ends meet Sergei Pugachev , her knight in shining armor came.

The pair met for the first Time Alexandra had been hired had to teach him in English.

'is It electric'

A framed photo shows a view of The Man .

Sergei Pugachev is shown on Tolstoy's on the left, with deep, Green Eyes , a trimmed mustache and beard.

Watch The Countess and The Russian billionaire on Wednesday, 8. April relaxed to 21:00 on Bbc Two

the spectators in the Kingdom

The pair look and burnt brown on a holiday, smiled slightly, and dressed in white linen.

"When I met Sergei , it was electric. I fell so in love with him," Tolstoy. "It was so romantic, I've never felt such a connection with Someone . "

The Family had a globe-trotting lifestyle, with a base in Chelsea, London, A jet-set Life

First of all, Tolstoy said, Life could not have been better.

Within a year, the meeting had of the birth of a baby and the new Family of luxury living between Moscow , London and Paris.

"He had me shopping with his credit card and I'm going, I could do what I wanted," she says. "I had a private jet. Only I had to make my suitcase and go. "

The couple split their Time between a number of properties, including a £12m Family home in Battersea, a 200-acre estate in Hertfordshire, and a beach villa in The Caribbean , to the value of $40m.

But the Good Times rolled, at that Time in Russia, The Mood had changed.

President Vladimir Putin was against his former allies are oligarchs like Sergei Pugachev .

Sergei Pugachev deserves to close the nickname "Putin's banker" and the two were said to be "Putin's banker'

Sergei Pugachev had accumulated his huge $15bn fortune in post-Communist Russia. He owned a pit, the shipyards, designers, brands, and even one of Russia's largest private banks.

he says He was in the vicinity of The Russian President - They Went On Holiday together, all The Time " - and that after the award of loans to the government, he earned the nickname "Putin's banker".

But Pugachev says Putin approve of his relationship with Alexandra Tolstoy .

"Mr. Putin was very surprised by this and says," Pugachev . "[He Said ,] 'Why? You is English. So strange. It is 140m people in Russia, it is a crazy idea. '"

In 2003, President Vladimir Putin started to drive a campaign, Yeltsin-era "oligarchs" out of policy "We cut adopted her son the finger'

In 2006, Russian law, to give your agents a license to kill enemies of The State abroad and it was not long until Russia's attention turned to Pugachev and his billions.

In 2008, Pugachev 's bank was made and problems had saved, was, by the Russian State with a billion-dollar loan. But in spite of the bail out, The Bank went, only two years later.

Pugachev claims that he had sold The Bank years earlier, but Russia does not agree.

In Court , Pugachev was found liable for bank losses and prompt Russia fled.

Pugachev says he was threatened Russia, the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA) is called for the repayment of the billions of dollars-to get credit.

"you invited me in a restaurant. They said, 'OK, you have to pay $350 or we will kill you or your Family . If you want, we can your son cut the finger and send it,'" Pugachev says.

denies The SLIDE, this is ever happened, but what is certain is repay that Pugachev refused to return The Money .

to Fall in The Next couple of years, the enemies of the Russian State more.

Boris Nemtsov was one of Russia's leading economic reformers in the 1990s, High-profile enemies of The State

In 2012, rich Russian exile and whistleblower Alexander Perepilichny , dropped dead while Jogging near his home in Surrey.

In 2013, Boris Berezovsky , an opponent of President Putin, was found dead in his house in Ascot.

In the year 2015, a leading Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov was shot and killed in Moscow .

Sergei Pugachev amassed $15bn fortune in post-Communist Russia Go head-to-head -

The Russian State was close to Sergei Pugachev , and in 2015 will be used to track the British courts, him and The Missing $1 billion.

Pugachev was found liable for bank losses - bail-out money, it was said, was paid into a Swiss bank account, And Then was moved, until all had a billion dollars from him, was gone.

Pugachev 's assets were frozen worldwide, and his passports seized.

now that you have fled to his Chateau in France, Pugachev went head-to-head with the Russian State and suing you for The Loss of his assets.

Alexandra Tolstoy claims that her relationship with billionaire Sergei Pugachev tense, when he fled to France ', I would feel too claustrophobic and isolated, "

With your partner in a constant hide and your Family not pursued, to feel Tolstoy began that things were Safe for you and your children, and by 2016, their relationship with the father of The Children was under unbearable pressure.

to move, When Pugachev asked Tolstoy permanently to France, living together with their three children there as A Family , Tolstoy did not want to, you could.

"Sergei had one of his explosions, where he physically jumped me," she says. "He locked The Children in a room, separated from me, and he locked my passport and children's passports in his Safe . "

"Something in me the Weekend snapped - I didn't know we were Safe . "

in an interview with The Bbc , Alexandra Tolstoy says she and her children financially

Then, in The Spring of 2016, she left the castle with The Children , and They never returned.

From that moment on, she says, both cut you and The Children financially.

"Some People look at me and say, 'Your Life is so easy, you have happy children who are so privileged,'" she says with tears in his eyes.

"you are not. The privileged upbringing is To Live in a Safe , secure and Happy Family , you know, together. "

Tolstoy says that The Russian government seized The Family home and put it on The Market . She says They offered her a deal to stay in The House for a year, if They agreed "not to claim maintenance from Sergei and not the claim of my debts. "

"I signed either the contract or The Time I left The House The Next day," she says.

"My biggest fear is that we have No Money , and we have nowhere To Live . It is A Nightmare . "

Former Russian Double Agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Julia survived The Attack relations between Britain and Russia

to worsen by the year 2018, after the poisoning of Sergei Skripal , a former Russian double-agent in the UK, there was the re-examination of a number of deaths in the UK, took place in The Past two decades.

The Home Office was asked to check 14 cases, of which were a number of occasions, it was noted, heart attacks, suicides, accidents and deaths by Natural Causes .

But some argue that They amount to a pattern of State -sponsored murder on British streets.

Tolstoy, again, your travel company, leading horses has revived-expeditions across Kyrgyzstan and makes regular trips to Russia.

russia, russia-uk relations, billionaires, vladimir putin, money

Source of news: bbc.com