Berezovsky said he had decided to withdraw his proposal to hand over to a group of journalists and other public figures the 49 percent of ORT public television he still holds.
"The methods of influence used against me are becoming increasingly authoritarian," Berezovsky, who last month refused to appear for questioning by a prosecutor, told private NTV television from Nice in France. He denies any wrongdoing.
"This is clearly a KGB method," he said, referring to the Soviet-era domestic intelligence agency, "to resort to blackmail through those who are close to you...the authorities have gone beyond all bounds."
Lawyers for the two defendants, Nikolai Glushkov and Alexander Krasnenker, said their clients had been summoned by prosecutors and questioned in connection with allegations that money was skimmed off from Aeroflot funds. Glushkov remained in custody, while Krasnenker was allowed to go free during the investigation.
The money is alleged to have been channelled by the two men through Swiss firms, Forus Services SA and Andava SA, when they held senior positions in Aeroflot.
Krasnenker's lawyer, Boris Kuznetsov, was quoted by Itar-Tass news agency as describing the charges as groundless. He said Berezovsky was implicated as the investigators sought to prove that he was involved in a group arranging credits which the airline had no intention of paying back to the Swiss firms.
Russian prosecutors have been helped in their investigation by Swiss authorities.
Nikolai Volkov, a Russian special prosecutor taken off the case earlier this year on a legal technicality, said in July that it had been established that $585 million of Aeroflot funds had gone through Andava and $350 million through Forus.
Berezovsky's proposal to give away in trust 49 percent of ORT to journalists and other prominent citizens was intended to protect the channel from official attempts to seize it. He cited attacks by legal authorities against Vladimir Gusinsky, head of the independent Media-Most group.
Plans to engineer a transfer to a group known as "Teletrust" had got under way but were far from complete.
"I have spoken today to all members of Teletrust and I understand now that all actions will be aimed at them because there is nothing more that the authorities want than to have control over the media," he told NTV. "That's why I have made a decision today to withdraw my offer to members of Teletrust."
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