By Jane Croft and Michael Steen

There was an awkward moment on Monday as Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea Football Club owner, squeezed past his former acquaintance and sworn enemy Boris Berezovsky in the tightly packed High Court.

Neither of the Russian oligarchs made eye contact but their encounter underlined the dramatic shift in their relationship, which began when they were introduced on a Caribbean cruise in 1994, and has ended in acrimony in a London courtroom, the venue for one of the biggest legal disputes ever heard in Britain.

The case has shone an unwelcome spotlight on the murky world of Russian business which followed the collapse of communism in the early 1990s and in which Mr Abramovich has claimed that having a political protector or ?krysha? was ?an inescapable reality of doing business in Russia at that time?.

Mr Berezovsky is a one-time kingpin of oligarchs, the entrepreneurs who amassed wealth and political dominance in 1990s Russia, but he now lives in exile after falling out with president Vladimir Putin in 2000. Mr Abramovich also spends time in London as Chelsea?s owner and is one of Russia?s richest men, valued by Forbes at $13.4bn (?8.3bn).

In this dispute Mr Berezovsky, who is suing Mr Abramovich for more than $6.5bn, claims that Mr Abramovich made him sell his shares in Sibneft, the Russian oil company, for $1.3bn – a price he argues was far below their market worth – under the threat

that if he did not, Mr Abramovich would ask Mr Putin to expropriate the shares for nothing.

Mr Abramovich denies the claim and says he paid Mr Berezovsky $1.3bn for political protection.

In one of the most dramatic days of the case so far, Mr Abramovich on Monday took to the witness stand for several hours of cross-examination which picked over details of his early life including his unfinished degree at the Moscow Road Institute.

Dressed in a blue-grey suit with a blue tie and speaking in Russian, he gave evidence in a soft voice. More than 100 headsets were provided for lawyers, press and members of the public to hear a simultaneous translation in English.

The testimony was sometimes slow-moving as Mr Abramovich gave monosyllabic answers of ?da? (?yes?) to questions by Mr Berezovsky?s barrister Lawrence Rabinowitz.

There was laughter when Mr Abramovich claimed not to know whether one of his associates who has a French chateau and other property was wealthy. ?It?s really hard for me to say what is a wealthy person, what is not a wealthy person,? he said.

A dramatic moment came when Mr Rabinowitz presented Mr Abramovich with a note taken by Stephen Curtis, a lawyer who died in a helicopter crash, which the court was told referred

to a 1995 meeting between Mr Curtis and Mr Abramovich and his associate Eugene Shvidler. Mr Rabinowitz said the note contained words such as ?UAE?, ?Angola?, ?tanks? and ?MIG spare parts?.

?Were you engaged in weapons trading in 1995?? Mr Rabinowitz asked.

Mr Abramovich replied: ?I was never involved in arms trading. In the Russian Federation arms trade is the prerogative of the state and the state alone.?

In his witness statement, Mr Abramovich claims that after their initial 1994 meeting he realised Mr Berezovsky, who was close to then president Boris Yeltsin and Mr Yeltsin?s daughter, ?could provide me with important contacts? and seemed ?capable of providing me with both political and physical support and protection?. Mr Abramovich adds that he had given Mr Berezovsky more than $2.5bn for his services ?and still that is not enough for him. I am disappointed and surprised that he additionally asserts a legal claim to a significant further portion of my wealth?.

The case continues.

? The Financial Times Limited 2011