Former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev says that he will be a champion of a free press once he purchases the London Evening Standard.

From the Guardian

It was hardly glamorous work. As a junior spy in the Soviet Union’s plush embassy in Kensington Palace Gardens, Alexander Lebedev had to read the British newspapers. Every morning he would plough through the FT, the Guardian and the tabloids – looking for small hopeful signs of the possible downfall of capitalism. Generally there weren’t any. He would also read the London Evening Standard.

Some two decades later capitalism is still with us, although not exactly thriving. The Soviet Union has disappeared. But Lebedev’s own fortunes have prospered. The former spy is now a billionaire about to become the new owner of the Standard, which he first rifled through while working as a lieutenant-colonel in the KGB’s foreign intelligence directorate. It is a post-modern twist that John le Carré, the great cold war ironist, might have relished.

Lebedev himself is unwilling to discuss details of tomorrow’s historic deal, which should see him become the first Russian oligarch to own a British newspaper. He refuses to divulge details of his tortuous negotiations with Lord Rothermere – whom he simply calls “Jonathan” – but says they have gone on for at least a year. “Jonathan is a very good man. He treats what he has inherited as his duty rather than as something he enjoys,” he says.

Lebdedev isn’t a fan of  Vladimir Putin or current Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, but promises not to embarrass the country.  Hopefully he will scrutinize the government’s policies and not give the a pass either.

 

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