Battle of the oligarchs... the amazing showdown between Roman Abramovich and his arch rival

Shoppers in London's exclusive Sloane Street watched in amazement as Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich and his deadliest business rival Boris Berezovsky played out a scene more reminiscent of a gangster movie.

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Berezovsky, a one-time business partner of Abramovich in three major Russian companies, had been trying for six months to serve a £5 billion writ on him - and yesterday he finally got his chance.

Flanked by three bodyguards, Berezovsky - who was granted political asylum in Britain four years ago after fleeing Russia in the face of embezzlement charges - had been shopping in the designer store Dolce & Gabbana.

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And as he was leaving, he spotted his sworn enemy in the Hermes store two doors away.

Berezovsky, 61, immediately ordered one of his burly bodyguards to fetch the writ from his £300,000 Maybach limousine parked nearby.

But as he tried to enter the shop with the document, his path was blocked by Abramovich's three SAS-trained security men.

As a scuffle ensued between the two sets of rival bodyguards, Berezovsky forced open the door and barged his way in to confront an ashen-faced Abramovich.

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When he tried to thrust the writ into his hands, 41-year-old Abramovich pulled his arms back and the papers fell to the floor.

One astonished onlooker heard Berezovsky declare: "I've got a present for you. This is for you, from me."

The drama was captured on the shop's CCTV, and within 20 minutes, Berezovsky's lawyers had demanded the footage as evidence that the High Court writ had been served.

One stunned shop assistant in the Hermes store said afterwards: "Nobody is going to say anything until everything settles down. We do know what you are talking about, but we do not want to discuss it."

But a security guard in the nearby Christian Dior shop said: "Roman Abramovich was walking up Sloane Street and I saw a group of security guards who work for Boris Berezovsky.

"They were a few metres apart and there seemed to be a lot of tension and confusion.

"It wasn't clear what was going on, but people were getting very excited. Then the groups headed off in different directions."

Last night, Berezovsky, who is worth a modest £500 million compared to Abramovich's £10.8 billion fortune, said: "Yes, I have served a writ today. It was like a scene from The Godfather. This now goes into the legal process."

A spokesman for Abramovich refused to comment.

Abramovich, an orphan by the age of four, was raised by his family in the harshness of the Arctic Circle.

He began his business career selling plastic ducks from a Moscow apartment, but within a few years his vast wealth spread from oil conglomerates to pig farms.

In 1995, Abramovich and Berezovsky, a former forestry engineer and used-car salesman, acquired the controlling interest in the giant Soviet oil company Sibneft.

They paid just £50 million for half of the company and rapidly turned it into billions.

Abramovich bought Chelsea in June, 2003, assuming the then struggling club's £80 million debts and using his huge resources to take them to the top of the Premiership.

He recently divorced his second wife Irina, who received a £150 million payout, and he is now dating 24-year-old Russian model Daria Zhukova, a former girlfriend of tennis star Marat Safin.

Abramovich has recently boosted his security staff to a 40-strong 'private army', making him one of the best protected tycoons in the world.

Berezovsky, a four-times married father-of-six, followed his investment in Sibneft with a political career. But he fled Russia after being accused of plotting a revolution to overthrow President Putin.

Berezovsky claims he has been targeted for assassination by Putin and in July fled Britain for three weeks until Scotland Yard arrested a man at the Park Lane Hilton hotel and deported him to Russia.