Meet one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's top enemies. He's a guy from Chicago

Kim Hjelmgaard | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption One of Putin's top enemies is Chicagoan who fears he'll be poisoned Following the poisoning of a double agent, allegedly at the hands of Russia, a prominent British businessman believes he could be targeted next. Nathan Rousseau Smith has the story.

LONDON — Bill Browder is one of Russia's most high-profile public enemies and has been for years.

Now, the British businessman says he fears for his life.

Browder thinks he or anyone who crosses Russian President Vladimir Putin could end up like former double-agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, who are in critical condition after a nerve-agent assault this month in Salisbury, England. The United Kingdom believes Moscow orchestrated the attack on the Skripals.

Russia denies involvement.

"Putin is a complete criminal," Browder said in a phone interview with USA TODAY this week. "Everyone who is at odds with him is at risk — and I am more at risk than most."

Putin, Browder said, "has a whole array of projects he is working on to try to destroy me. The first is death. ... The second is kidnapping." Browder is from Chicago but gave up his U.S. citizenship in 1998 and now lives in Britain.

He said he was informed of a past Russian plot to "forcibly take me to Moscow" but he "took some precautions" to thwart it.

Browder, 53, is the man behind a law which holds Russian officials accountable for fraud, tax evasion, human-rights abuses and other corrupt practices.

The Magnitsky Act was adopted in seven countries, including the United States, in 2012.

It is named after Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian tax accountant who was beaten to death in a Moscow prison while working for Browder's since-dissolved investment fund Hermitage Capital Management.

The firm was the largest foreign investor in Russia until Browder was expelled from the country in 2005. Magnitsky had testified that Kremlin officials were involved in a $230 million conspiracy to steal state tax revenues.

Browder has advocated for sanctions against wealthy Russians accused of crimes, many with direct links to Putin. In response, Putin has called Browder a "serial killer."

Browder has also received numerous death threats.

Chemist who helped develop nerve agent Novichok describes side effects Russian former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with the Russian-made nerve agent in the southern English city of Salisbury.

Russian courts have convicted him, in absentia, for various crimes, including stealing billions in Russian money destined for the International Monetary Fund.

Moscow has sought his extradition from Britain. It has also tried many times to have him arrested via international police organization Interpol.

James Nixey, an expert on Russia at Chatham House, a foreign affairs think tank, concurred that "(Browder) probably needs to be pretty careful these days ... He is a real thorn in the side of some extremely influential people."

The Russian Embassy in London and the country's Foreign Ministry in Moscow did not return a request for comment on Browder's accusations. His claim that criminals working with the Kremlin tried to abduct him was also detailed in a 2014 U.S. court submission in New York.

Mysterious deaths and threats

Many of Putin's opponents — journalists, politicians, former associates — have died in violent or suspicious circumstances, both at home and abroad.

In Britain, authorities concluded that Alexander Litvinenko, another former Russian spy, was poisoned to death at the Kremlin's behest in a London hotel in 2006.

Boris Berezovsky, an oligarch who was once Putin's right-hand man, was found hanged at his mansion outside London in 2013.

And last week, police opened a murder investigation into the death of Nikolai Glushkov, a close associate of Berezovsky's who Moscow accused of embezzling money from Aeroflot, Russia's state airline.

Glushkov was found strangled in his home near London. His name was on the top of an extradition list of 51 Russian citizens that Moscow describes as "fugitives from justice" but "welcome" in Britain. The list is published by the Russian Embassy in London.

More: What you didn't know about Russian President Putin

More: Putin calls UK accusations over ex-spy poisoning ‘nonsense’

More: Novichok: What is Russia's dangerous poison used in ex-spy Skripal's case?

Browder believes the Skripals' attack was ordered by Russia to "send a message ... that if you are disloyal and betray the country it doesn't matter when you did it, and it doesn't matter where you flee to, we'll come and get you and kill your family, too."

He is not alone.

Ten years ago, Yevgeny Chichvarkin, 43, ran one of Russia's largest cellphone retailers. After the billionaire publicly complained about corruption in Putin's government, Chichvarkin fled to London in 2008. Russia has charged Chichvarkin with kidnapping and blackmail and wants him extradited.

"It sounds illogical and unreasonable, but it's impossible to live your life in fear," Chichvarkin said by phone Tuesday.

Browder agrees.

"This has been going on for a long time for me. Skripal doesn't feel like anything new. It just feels like life," he said.