Bidzina Ivanishvili

Profile - A podcast by BBC Radio 4 - Saturdays

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From his hilltop glass mansion in ancient Tbilisi, he’s accused of cultivating Georgia’s shift from the west over the past decade.And, with his political party’s recent victory in the parliamentary elections, that trajectory appears set to continue for some time yet.Bidzina Ivanishvili is the guiding force behind the Georgian Dream party, but what else do we know about the mysterious billionaire?In this edition of Profile, Mark Coles takes a closer look at the man who keeps animals, collects rare trees, and who spent much of the 1990s in Russia founding companies.Contributors Tom De Waal - Senior Fellow with the Carnegie Europe think tank Natalia Antelava - Journalist Lincoln Mitchell - Lecturer of International Affairs at Columbia University Tedo Jakaridze - Georgia’s Foreign Minister Neil MacFarlane - Professor Emeritus of International Relations at the University of OxfordProduction Team Presenter: Mark Coles Producers: Ben Cooper, Marianna Brain, Kirsteen Knight Editor: Ben Mundy Sound: Neil Churchill Production Coordinator: Maria OgundeleCredits IMEDI TV