Georgia's saviour. Russia's stooge. Philanthropist. Oligarch. Bidzina Ivanishvili has been called all these things, and more.
The billionaire, Georgia's richest person and the founder of its ruling party, is seldom seen in public and, of late, almost exclusively behind bulletproof glass. Yet his presence looms large over this small European country caught been Russia and the West and an election that could shape its destiny.
Ivanishvili can gaze down on downtown Tbilisi from a massive steel-and-glass clifftop mansion that rears about 60 meters over the capital, complete with helipad. He indulges exotic passions like keeping sharks and zebras and collecting rare trees.
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