One of the main characters in the latest issue of Tatler magazine was the son of Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev, Evgeniy. The author of the material described the lifestyle of the famous rake with his luxurious parties, affairs with celebrities and expensive trips with his personal photographer.

The bearded dandy has lived in London since childhood and by the age of 34 heads the serious British newspapers The Independent and Evening Standard. In England, the Lebedevs are called “Lebs”, and Evgeniy is called the “baby oligarch”.

Despite the impressive “landing force” of the Russian oligarchy, which landed on the territory of England at different times, Evgeniy shuns the company of his fellow countrymen. He is disgusted with those who made their fortune from scratch: “The main thing for them is money. And nothing more. This is the combination: big money - and no education or aesthetic guidelines. That is, taste,” Tatler magazine quotes Evgeniy.

By the way, Lebedev himself can boast of a prestigious education: the oligarch has the London School of Economics behind him, and in his desk drawer a diploma from the art school of the Christie's auction house is gathering dust. His love for art resulted in a sculpture of a boy with a penis instead of a nose, decorating his office and collection of five hundred aromatic oils and a bed early XIX century, on which, according to Eugene, George IV rested: “The Prince Regent, the future King George IV, must have had a good time frolicking on this bed.” Another quirk of the Russian rich man is the wolf named Boris who lives on his estate in Umbria.

When Eugene leaves England, he is accompanied by a personal photographer - by the way, half-brother of the now deceasedPrincess Diana. Every year the plane with Lebedev flies to Venice, to the grave Russian theater and artistic figure Sergei Diaghilev.

Another weakness of Lebedev Jr. is parties: the oligarch loves to party until the morning and throw luxurious receptions at home. An exceptional audience gathers for a glass or two: actress Keira Knightley, British Prime Minister David Cameron, London Mayor Boris Johnson and others.

Another Lebedev fetish is reading aloud in public. To help hone his oratory skills, Evgeniy was assigned a personal teacher of stage speech. So, together with his good friend, actor Danny Huston, Lebedev read Pinter’s play “The Return Home.”

In 2010, Eugene received British citizenship, on this occasion Elton John and his partner David Furnish threw a reception for five hundred people in the prestigious Royal Court of Justice in London. Evgeniy is almost associated with the pop music legend family relationships: Lebedev is the godfather of Elton and David Zachary’s son.

Lebedev was credited with romances with Geri Halliwell from the Spice Girls, Gillian Anderson from The X-Files, Joely Richardson from 101 Dalmatians and Elizabeth Hurley. The oligarch’s friend, actor David Walliams, once said: “Everyone thought he was gay, but nothing like that!” Lebedev himself commented on rumors about his non-traditional sexual orientation: “If I were gay, I would announce it publicly.”

Great Britain has firmly taken first place in popularity among Russian exiles. Something similar was observed at the beginning of the last century, when the leader of the first proletarian revolution chose foggy Albion to live for several years. One of the first political emigrants of our time moved to England, the late Boris Abramovich Berezovsky. Chichvarkin and others followed him. The stronghold of bourgeois democracy, Great Britain reliably guarantees that fugitives will not be extradited at the request of Russian law enforcement agencies.

One of the last famous Russian people who decided to move to London unexpectedly turned out to be entrepreneur Alexander Lebedev, who had not previously been noted for dissent or conflicts with the authorities. He explained his decision very vaguely by the unexpected desire to curtail his business in Russia. Nowadays Alexander Lebedev prefers to devote more time to himself rather than to his hectic business life.

Typical image Russian entrepreneur who has achieved success in business, with a belly bulging from physical inactivity and bags under his eyes from fighting constant stress with the help of strong drinks, does not correspond to the youthful and lively Lebedev. From his youth, the chairman of the board of directors of CJSC National Reserve Corporation was friends with sports and in a healthy way life. It couldn't have been any other way. The entrepreneur’s father, a teacher at the Bauman Moscow Higher Technical School, was known in his youth as a good water polo player and a friend of the legendary football goalkeeper Lev Yashin. When it came to choosing a profession, Alexander Lebedev was more inspired by the example of his mother ─ a teacher at MGIMO, where he headed his steps after school. In 1982, the most famous “bursa” of Soviet diplomats produced another certified specialist in international economic relations.

Lebedev immediately sat down to write his dissertation, simultaneously agreeing to work in the KGB structures. In 1984, without much fanfare, he still graduated from the KGB Institute, which gave him the opportunity to work in the embassies of developed capitalist countries. In 1987, he walked along the Thames embankment for the first time. At the Soviet embassy in Great Britain, he met another young promising diplomat, Andrei Kostin, the current head of the second largest Russian bank, VTB. Alexander Lebedev served simultaneously in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Foreign Intelligence Service, retiring in 1991 with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

It is not known what training program at the intelligence school the MGIMO graduate completed at one time. Japanese intelligence officers during World War II, for example, were taught to distinguish each other by smell. Perhaps Lebedev’s studies instilled in him a pronounced “sixth” sense, which rarely let him down. In the late 80s, he felt his career would be threatened if he continued to wear shoulder straps. The next decade actually turned out to be very difficult for the “service” people, even for the elite that the intelligence officers always considered themselves to be.

Alexander Lebedev figured that he had enough business experience and established connections to develop his own business. He wasn't wrong. By 1996, the former intelligence diplomat felt quite respectable. The election headquarters of President Boris Yeltsin, which gathered all the active and “moneyed” representatives of the newly formed class of the Russian bourgeoisie, willingly included him in its composition. A decade later, Lebedev will try to play his own political party, getting into the State Duma, but things didn’t work out for him. He will bet on the Rodina political association, which willingly absorbed former military and intelligence officers into its composition, but a “sixth” sense will tell Lebedev that this political force was destined to trail along in the rearguard, if not in the wagon train, constantly playing a secondary role for the ruling "United Russia".

In United Russia, where he will quickly defect from Rodina, he will get lost among the crowd of equally, if not more successful politicians and businessmen. The ambitious Lebedev could not arrange such a situation. Soon he moved to a new political project just organized by the Kremlin ─ the pseudo-opposition party “A Just Russia”. There, the businessman’s initiative and creativity were not appreciated and he was removed from the party lists for subversive activities. However, he was not particularly upset. A well-developed instinct suggested that A Just Russia would clearly not become a springboard for a powerful leap in politics.

Alexander Lebedev oligarch

With Lebedev’s business, everything went much more successfully from the very beginning. Together with his senior diplomat colleague Andrei Kostin, he profitably dealt with debts former USSR at the Russian Investment and Financial Company. In 1995, Alexander Lebedev founded the National Reserve Bank, where the same Kostin worked for a short time as his deputy. In the future, the old acquaintance will be far ahead of Lebedev, although he will occupy an honorable place in the third ten richest people in Russia. The pace of the entrepreneur in the coming century will slow down somewhat.

He will retreat to 89th position with a capital of just over $1 billion. This was facilitated by Lebedev’s unexpected constant vacillation as a businessman. He relied on potatoes, trying to feed the whole of Russia with high-quality foreign varieties. Then he built cheap housing for the people and tried to develop the domestic aviation industry. Russian people, in his opinion, should give up Big Macs and switch to eating at the domestic version of fast food - the Petrushka chain. None of the initiatives were brought to their logical conclusion. Lebedev spent a lot of money, time and effort, but he could not achieve such success as with the National Reserve Bank.

Before moving to the UK, the banker bought 2 English newspapers ─ Independent and Evening Standard. This purchase became part of his announced campaign to fight the international financial-offshore oligarchy, which he loudly declared war on. Alexander Lebedev gained experience in working with the media back in Russia, being one of the main shareholders of Nasha Gazeta.

Hunt for the Banker

Like any famous person, Alexander Lebedev could not avoid major scandals and accusations of committing a variety of sins. The first time he had a conflict with the Prosecutor General Skuratov, who accused the banker of fraud with bonds. The investigation lasted for 2 years and ended simultaneously with the resignation of the prosecutor, who inadvertently loved to take a steam bath with girls of easy virtue. Alexander Lebedev still denies any involvement in criminal operations, claiming that all the accusations were made up to please his then-competitor, businessman Ashot Yeghiazaryan, now living in the United States. This is the only case when the name of Alexander Lebedev was mentioned along with the mention of the Criminal Code. He spoke in detail about this and other extraordinary events of his youth in his autobiographical book “The Hunt for a Banker.”

All other cases of scandalous chronicles with his participation turned out to be the fruit of an explosive character, like gunpowder. Alexander Lebedev intensively exchanged sharp verbal jabs with the Chairman of the Russian Council of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Shokhin. The reason was some insignificant trifle, which quickly reached the level of personal insults. In 2011, in the television pavilion in live Lebedev, without hesitation and without entering into a verbal altercation, knocked out the flamboyant Russian developer Sergei Polonsky. The court was forced to deal with the fight and found the banker guilty. Lebedev worked a little more than 100 hours of correctional labor while renovating a kindergarten in the Tula region.

Literally at the same time, he found himself involved in a trivial sex scandal, after which he announced the decision to sell off Russian assets and leave for the UK. Confirming a popular Russian proverb that establishes a cause-and-effect relationship between gray beards and lust, Alexander Lebedev plunged headlong into love story with young socialite Elena Perminova. Before him, the Siberian woman’s former boyfriend had gone to prison for a long time to serve a sentence for drug trafficking, and the “lady of the heart” herself miraculously did not follow him. The court sentenced her to 6 years of probation, taking pity and not daring to completely break the fate of the young girl.

The British period in the life of a Russian emigrant is still quite quiet. It is unlikely that Alexander Lebedev will agree to meet his old age calmly, living modestly on the interest from his billion dollars. The heady air of Western freedom and democracy will certainly push Russians to action. All that remains is to wait in which direction the developed “sixth” sense of an intelligence officer and businessman will turn him.

It is easy to see that for Alexander Lebedev, the 2000s turned out to be as unprofitable as the 1990s were profitable, when he made his fortune in debt trading - his only successful enterprise. In fact, all the projects in which he tried to invest the money earned in this way brought this man only financial losses, sometimes associated with serious reputational losses. Following the crash of the plane, the business collapsed, friends left, former partners hinted at mental disorders, and the evil Polonsky from Cambodia demands five years in prison for hooliganism. Forbes magazine talks about the indirect life path of a millionaire as follows.

To the delight of foreign investors, November 1993 turned out to be dry and sunny in St. Petersburg. Western bankers who arrived for a conference on investing in the Russian economy were received in Smolny by the mayor of the city, Anatoly Sobchak, and his deputy, Vladimir Putin. In the evening, investors were treated to dinner in the wardroom of the revolutionary cruiser Aurora. Invitations to city guests, air tickets and hotels, a presentation and a banquet on the water were organized by the Russian Investment and Financial Company (RIFK) of the novice financier Alexandra Lebedeva .

Life promised him bright prospects. Shortly before this, a lieutenant colonel of the First Main Directorate of the KGB (intelligence) returned from London, where served under diplomatic cover. In the British capital, he gained knowledge, rare for post-Soviet Russia, about the debts of third world countries and made wide acquaintances among Western investors and future Russian oligarchs.

In the late 1990s, using connections and experience in dealing with government and commercial debts, Lebedev amassed a billion-dollar fortune; he was one of the richest businessmen in Russia during the time of Boris Yeltsin. Already under President Putin, Lebedev began to build an aviation empire and achieved considerable success here. His fortune was at its peak, in 2006, $3.7 billion, but in 2013 it barely reached $600 million.

Over 20 years in business, Lebedev not only lost most of his assets and money, he was unable to maintain relationships with business partners, his managers, government officials and even friends. And now he is mostly in the circle of enemies and ill-wishers, and he also faces a prison sentence for hooliganism.

“For me, this person does not exist, I crossed him out of my life,” VTB CEO Andrei Kostin said in a recent interview. former friend and partner Lebedeva. According to another of his former partners, entrepreneur Oleg Boyko, he was friends with Lebedev until he “started having problems with his head.”

What business operations did the intelligence officer organize and what did they lead to?

Operation "Million"

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, London was a mecca for future Russian oligarchs, and the Soviet embassy was a meeting place. Entrepreneurs from Russia came to London to make connections in business circles, hire lawyers to register offshore companies, and just show off. And the second secretary of the Russian embassy, ​​Lebedev, who was part of the local establishment and had an official car, was very useful to them. In London he communicated with Vladimir Potanin, Mikhail Prokhorov, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Oleg Boyko, and Alexander Mamut, Lebedev’s classmate at Moscow English special school No. 17, even spent the night at his house on the sofa. However, after finishing his diplomatic work in 1992, Lebedev did not go to work for any of his new acquaintances. He had other thoughts about his future career.

At one time, Lebedev received an excellent education. After a prestigious special school, the son of a famous professor of optical physics and an English teacher at MGIMO entered this university at the Faculty of Economics. Then graduated High school KGB and went to serve in London. In foreign intelligence, he ended up in the economic department of the analytical department, created by personal order of KGB chairman Yuri Andropov. Analysts studied commodity markets (gold, oil, grain), and Lebedev additionally studied government debt markets.

“We were Soviet officials who, at best, taught English language at school, and he is a distinguished gentleman, a diplomat, speaks correctly, excellent English, knowledge of economics,” recalls Sergei Rodionov, a former employee of the State Bank of the USSR and President of the Imperial Bank.

Lebedev's estate is located in the village of Razdory on Rublevskoye Highway

Former intelligence officer Lebedev decided to make money by trading various types of debts. The business needed money, and it would also be nice to find reliable partners. Lebedev’s former colleague, diplomat Andrei Kostin, asked to become a partner because he was tired of working his pants in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was eking out a miserable existence after the collapse of the USSR. Money was more difficult, but Lebedev remembered a London acquaintance, the owner of the St. Petersburg Gamma cooperative and the London company First Pacific, Roman Shvetsky. He then began to import household and office equipment to Russia. According to Anatoly Danilitsky, a former press attache at the Russian Embassy in London, and then a top manager of Lebedev’s companies, Shvetsky earned at least $10 million by the early 1990s and “he was looked at as an oligarch.”

In 1992, Shvetsky registered The Milith company in London and contributed to it authorized capital£13,000 for himself and £5,000 each for Lebedev and Kostin. “This abbreviation stands for “Million Like That,” says Lebedev and snaps his fingers. In a loose Russian translation, this means “A million out of the bush,” and Lebedev assures that the name was invented by Kostin, who was known as a great joker at the embassy.

In February 1993, The Milith established the same RIFK firm in Moscow, which began consulting foreign banks and organized a conference for Western investors in St. Petersburg.

Operation Debts

The Milith fully lives up to its cheerful name. Lebedev and Kostin invited their former colleagues Danilitsky and journalist, and at the same time KGB officer Yuri Kudimov, to work at RIFK. Another valuable employee of the company was Elena Dubinina, the wife of Sergei Dubinin, then... O. Minister of Finance of Russia, who in Soviet times was Kostin's teacher at the economics department of Moscow State University.

The commercial debt of the former USSR was estimated at a fabulous $4 billion at that time - this is how much Russia had to pay to foreign companies that supplied their products to Soviet Union. Western firms refused to continue trading with Russia, demanding repayment of debts, but there was not enough money in the budget. And the desire of foreigners to get at least something became the source of Lebedev’s fantastic earnings. “Johnson & Johnson or Novo Nordisk refused to supply medicines until the debt was repaid,” says Lebedev. “I suggested that they not stand in line for years, but sell their debts at a discount.”

At the same time, Lebedev did not have to spend a single dollar of his own, because the Ministry of Finance provided money to buy out debt from commercial creditors at the rate of 50% of the face value, and they were often bought for no more than 10% of the face value. In other words, to redeem a debt of, for example, $10 million, the state transferred $5 million, Lebedev paid $1 million to foreigners, and $4 million were commissions.

Andrei Vavilov, then First Deputy Minister of Finance, a member of the government commission on state external debt, claims that he does not remember under what conditions debts were purchased from foreigners. He admits that the discount could be 90%, since “it was the debt of the junior order", repaid last.

Officially, four authorized banks were allowed to buy out debts: Imperial, National Credit, "Menatep" and "Capital". And Lebedev and Kostin had to carry out operations through one of them. Their partner Shvetsky, whose companies bought foreign currency from Imperial, introduced Lebedev to the president of the bank, Sergei Rodionov. So in 1993, almost immediately after the creation of RIFK, Lebedev became a hired manager - the head of the foreign investment department of Imperial, and Kostin - his deputy. True, they worked, as it turned out after a couple of years, mainly for themselves.

“His company [RIFK] began to earn much more than his management at the bank. It was a conflict of interest that was resolved naturally, Lebedev left,” says Rodionov.

Lebedev left for another bank, now his own. In the spring of 1995, he bought from Oleg Boyko National Reserve Bank (NRB). The license and a beautiful name, consonant with the US Federal Reserve System, cost Lebedev about $400,000.

In the early years, NRB was essentially an investment company, but a banking license allowed it to become authorized in the market for domestic foreign currency loan bonds (OVVZ). These securities were issued by the Ministry of Finance in exchange for the debt of Vnesheconombank of the USSR to Russian foreign trade enterprises, which became the first holders of “web bonds”. The bonds were traded on the secondary market, and from time to time the Ministry of Finance carried out additional placements of securities. Lebedev claims that it was he who suggested to the Ministry of Finance at one time beautiful idea debt securitization.

In March 1996, the government instructed the Ministry of Finance (then headed by Panskov) to issue two new equal tranches of OVVZ (6th and 7th) for a total amount of $3.5 billion with repayments in 2006 and 2011. In April 1996, the Ministry of Finance signed an agreement with the NRB and sold almost 30% of new issues of securities to Lebedev’s bank for an average of 20% of par value. In total, the NRB paid the Ministry of Finance $190 million. At the end of May 1996, new OVVZs first appeared on the secondary market, and the price of the 6th tranche was 32% of the face value, and the 7th - 24% (in accordance with existing interest rates). The entire package of NRB was already worth $266 million, without straining (like that!), the bank earned $76 million in a month. These data are contained in the materials General Prosecutor's Office in a criminal case against the leadership of the NRB. The case was closed.

It is quite difficult to calculate exactly how much Lebedev earned from debts - not only NRB, but also many offshore structures were involved in the schemes, in which part of the profit was deposited. Anyway, we're talking about about hundreds of millions of dollars. “[Lebedev’s] entire capital was created through debt transactions. Specific operations and schemes built together with the friendly Ministry of Finance,” Boyko is sure.

The businessman himself frankly says that it was impossible to work effectively in the public debt market without the help of the state. At the same time, Lebedev emphasizes that he was far from the only banker close to the authorities: “At that time, everyone was sitting in Vavilov’s reception room. No matter how you come, you will meet about ten people: Surkov or Nevzlin (“Menatep”), Gusinsky or Zamani (Most Bank), Yeghiazaryan ( Mosnatsbank), Boyko or Salamandra (“National Credit”).”

Nevertheless, it was Lebedev, according to the participants in those events, who managed to conclude the most profitable deals. Most Forbes sources are sure that it could not have happened without help. O. Head of the Ministry of Finance Dubinin. Dubinin himself declined to comment for this article.

In October 1996, Kostin left NRB for an important government position, heading Vnesheconombank. According to one of Lebedev’s former partners, Kostin received $15 million from him, although he expected compensation 10 times more. Lebedev himself wanted to sit in the chair of the head of VEB, was offended by his partner and became greedy in retaliation, which was the main reason for their quarrel.

Kostin did not answer Forbes’ questions. Lebedev does not rule out that his former comrade was offended because he decided that he had not received the money due to him, but he does not mention any figures. And at the same time he adds that Kostin was never officially his partner, except perhaps formally.

Operation Gazprom

Oleg Boyko sold the NRB to Lebedev along with the opportunity to manage a portfolio of Ukrainian government bonds issued to repay the country’s debt to Gazprom.

In September 1995, the Ukrainian government issued documentary currency bonds for $1.4 billion - several tranches with maturity in 1997-2007. They were kept in the depository of Oleg Boyko's National Credit in Ukraine. National Credit itself suffered greatly during the banking crisis of 1995 and was not suitable for the role of an authorized bank. According to Boyko, he decided to transfer this function to NRB and introduced Lebedev to Gazprom management as a new partner.

So in 1995, Gazprom became the largest shareholder of the NRB, contributing its shares to the authorized capital.

Most of the Ukrainian securities Gazprom used to pay off his tax debts. The securities were accounted for at par, Gazprom transferred long bond issues to the Ministry of Finance, and kept short ones for itself. In 1997, Ukraine failed to repay the first tranche, and Gazprom management sounded the alarm. Then Lebedev proposed to contribute the remaining bonds from Gazprom (approximately $300 million at par) to the bank’s capital. As a result, NRB's capital increased by $270 million to $560 million, and Gazprom's share reached 64%.

Lebedev, maintaining contacts with the Ukrainian authorities, hoped that the bonds would be repaid and continued to buy more of them. At the end of the first quarter of 1998, the NRB already had $525 million worth of Gazpromovoks on its balance sheet. The businessman managed to persuade the Chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, to place the country’s foreign exchange reserves in the NRB, promising 10% per annum. As a result, about $100 million from Ukraine’s reserves ended up in the Russian bank, and Lebedev left the same “Gazprom” bonds ($200 million at face value) as collateral.

When in 1999 Ukraine did not pay the bond coupon (8.5% per annum), Lebedev agreed to convert the $60 million due to him under the coupon into hryvnia. He could spend the funds received only on the territory of Ukraine and began construction of a resort complex in Alushta. A total of $150 million was invested in this project over 10 years.

In addition, Lebedev persuaded the Ukrainian government to reissue bonds in order to organize their secondary circulation. In April 2000, the debt was restructured - new securities were issued for all $1.4 billion of Ukrainian debt with maturity in 2007 and a coupon of 11% per annum. By placing bonds familiar to investors in electronic form Western banks were involved. Lebedev immediately exchanged the old papers for new ones.

“A significant part of the Ukrainian papers ended up with Lebedev, and in the end Ukraine paid for them. “Gazprom clearly did not receive 100% for them,” says Sergei Aleksashenko, who at that time worked as the first deputy chairman of the Central Bank. “It cannot be ruled out that one of Gazprom’s employees took part in this deal.” Lebedev himself does not deny that he earned hundreds of millions of dollars from Ukrainian debts.

Why was Gazprom, which formally controls the NRB, left with nothing? The fact is that by the time the Ukrainian securities were restructured, the monopoly had lost control over the bank. This happened in 1999 during the process of transforming NRB into an open joint-stock company. Gazprom's share was only partially converted into shares and as a result decreased from 64% to 37%. In July 2002, Gazprom completely came out from the capital of the NRB, taking away his shares that were originally contributed to the capital (they were then worth $48 million) and the NRB promissory note for $12 million.

Operation Billions

Lebedev earned another round sum from shares Chubaisovsky RAO UES. “The paper took off and brought him a lot of net income,” says Rodionov.

The government put up an 8.5% stake in RAO UES for auction at the end of 1996. In addition to NRB, the investment bank CSFB participated in it. According to Lebedev, he offered $350 million, $7 million more than the foreigners, and won. The results were announced in January 1997, then the shares cost $0.1 per share, and six months later, in July 1997, they rose to $0.47. Lebedev's stake was valued at $1.64 billion. The shares reached a historical maximum in April 2007 - then the price rose to $1.46, and Lebedev's entire stake would have been worth $5.1 billion, but the businessman sold it back in 2006.

NRB also had large stakes in other blue chips - Gazprom (up to 0.6%), Mosenergo (about 1.5%) and Sberbank. According to Lebedev, he sold them without much profit, without waiting for the rapid growth of 2006-2007.

In general, Lebedev was very lucky in the 1990s, which cannot be said about the 2000s. “Around 2004, I decided to get out of securities, I was tired of it. Even if you collect them all, there will be no happiness,” the businessman recalls.

Operation Bank

Lebedev decided to get seriously involved in the banking business, which he knew firsthand, in 2004. He planned to transform NRB from an investment boutique into a universal one. Lebedev entrusted Kudimov with the leadership of NRB, and, in general, we can say that they achieved success: by the end of 2007, the bank’s assets according to IFRS grew to $2.2 billion, capital - to $1.2 billion. The loan portfolio exceeded $1 billion. The National mortgage company. In total, there were $460 million in customer deposits and current accounts at that time, of which $270 million came from private depositors.

For three years, in 2005-2007, the bank paid out more than $400 million in dividends. Almost all the money went to the National Reserve Corporation (NRK), created in 2004 to manage Lebedev’s assets. NRC owned 97% of the bank. In 2004, Lebedev allocated 15% of the corporation’s shares to his managers Kudimov and the head of NRK Danilitsky, leaving 70% for himself.

However, in 2008 the bank stumbled. The crisis for NRB began not in October, as for most Russian banks, but in April, when the Lebedev-owned newspaper Moscow Correspondent wrote that Putin is allegedly divorcing his wife and is going to marry gymnast Alina Kabaeva.

Putin was offended. And strongly. "Exists private life, in which no one is allowed to interfere. “I have always had a negative attitude towards those who, with some kind of flu-like nose and with their erotic fantasies, meddle in someone else’s life,” this is how the president reacted to the publication. At that time he was in Sardinia, congratulating Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on his party's victory in the elections. Lebedev closed the newspaper, but it was too late. Immediately all the most influential people in the Kremlin turned their backs on him. “They stopped taking him seriously, the attitude became more dismissive than hostile,” says one of the businessman’s former friends.

Lebedev himself does not believe in Putin’s version of resentment and revenge: “It seems to me stupid to be offended by drunken journalists who wrote nonsense. Why do we think so badly of Putin? This was invented by the same people who create the construction: Lebedev is a dissident, The Kremlin is hunting him ».

The NRB suffered the crisis that followed like all others, no better and no worse. It suffered from margin calls, the share of overdue loans rose to 30%, but liquidity remained at high level. And then NRB decided to expand its business by reorganizing the small bank “Russian Capital”, which collapsed during the crisis. Because of this seemingly insignificant episode, Lebedev’s entire banking business went downhill.

In October 2008, “Russian Capital” cost the NRB a symbolic 5,000 rubles. A week later, NRB specialists discovered that the bank, through dubious transactions on the eve of bankruptcy, was withdrawn 5.4 billion rubles. “We wrote a letter to the FSB asking them to look into it. They answered us: “You don’t need to look there,” says Lebedev. - I named names in letters specific people who participated in the schemes, for example, Lieutenant General Sergeev, who formerly headed the banking department of the K department of the FSB.” No one began to investigate the thefts at Roskap; the state Deposit Insurance Agency continued the bank’s reorganization.

In November 2010, searches from the “mask show” took place in the offices of the NRB itself. Investigators did not find anything seditious in the bank. Then the NRB underwent two inspections by the Central Bank - one began in December 2010 and ended in March 2011, the second lasted from January to April 2012. No significant violations were identified during these inspections, but work was practically paralyzed for six months - there were 130 inspectors, and 430 employees worked in the central office of the NRB at that time.

Andrey Manoilo, former deputy chairman of Sberbank from Andrey Kazmin’s team, headed NRB at the end of 2009, when Kudimov went to work at VEB Capital. Manoilo says that in his entire career he has never encountered such large-scale and thorough inspections of the Central Bank. According to him, after the second inspection, NRB, despite a significant reserve of capital and high reliability, had no prospects.

After the “mask show”, clients withdrew 1 billion rubles from the bank, after the first inspection by the Central Bank - another 3 billion rubles, at the same time all companies with state participation closed their accounts. “But when the second inspection began, everything became clear to everyone and clients began to leave en masse,” says Manoilo. “I advised Alexander Evgenievich not to engage in the banking business anymore, although the bank coped with the results of this audit, maintaining a three-fold capital reserve.”

The businessman could not count on any support from the authorities. “Lebedev is not in the system - he is on his own. We don't care about his problems. And they wet it with their own people,” he said high-ranking official, tapping two fingers of the right hand on the left shoulder.

As a result, the bank began to wind down its business. NRB closed branches, sold a portfolio of mortgage loans worth 9 billion rubles, out of 1,350 employees, 250 remained. Capital decreased to 16 billion rubles. The bank paid dividends for 2010 for $300 million, Lebedev received $240 million. The bank had practically no clients left—individual deposits dropped to 1 billion rubles. The bank's capital is formed mainly from securities and real estate. According to Fitch Ratings, at the end of the first quarter of 2013, the bank owned a stake in Gazprom ($80 million), a 6.6% stake in Aeroflot ($125 million), real estate and land ($122 million).

Why does Lebedev need an empty bank? “Today my bank is ideally prepared for sale; due diligence will take half an hour,” he says. - They will buy it not for business, but for capital. Now all banks need capital, there is a queue.”

However, according to Aleksashenko, no queue of buyers is visible; they have not been found for a year and a half. He believes that the bank is unlikely to be sold for more than 0.7 capital.

Operation Flight

Another strategic direction for Lebedev was aviation and financial transactions associated with it. Why? Since the late 1990s, the banker has been tempted to create something noticeable. The ex-head of the NRC Danilitsky says that Lebedev was obsessed with the idea of ​​​​turning money made from debts into real assets. In 1995, when the loans-for-shares auctions began, Lebedev already had money, connections and own bank, but he did not participate in privatization. “Maybe I’m too honest for this?” — the banker says, thinking for a second. But he immediately gives another explanation: Abramovich was already trading in oil, Oleg Deripaska and the Cherny brothers were “shipping something,” and he understood absolutely nothing in the real sector.

The fastest and, perhaps, one of the most successful transactions in Lebedev’s life was the purchase of a blocking stake in Aeroflot in March 2003. Then Roman Abramovich decided to sell his 26% stake in the airline and found a buyer in Sergei Pugachev, owner of Mezhprombank. The agreement had already been signed, but Pugachev changed his mind a week later. Lebedev found out about this and immediately called Abramovich. The seller named the price over the phone - $140 million.

“I stopped by Roman and sat for about 10 minutes in his green office at the Balchug office. I asked if it was possible to bargain. He answered: no. So we agreed. He called [the head of Millhouse Capital Evgeniy] Shvidler, and we went to fill out the documents. The whole deal took an hour,” recalls Lebedev. “It’s nice to deal with people.” Over five years, the price of the package increased almost 10 times - to $1.3 billion in March 2008. But getting into the airline business turned out to be very difficult. In 1997, Lebedev invited Alexander Rubtsov, deputy manager of Ernst & Young for Russia, to work at the bank. If only the banker knew then that he was buying a ticket for exhausting war with the state !

In 1993, Ernst & Young contracted to write the concept of transforming the Voronezh Ilyushin Aviation Complex into a Western-style corporation. Things didn't go further than the plan. But Rubtsov, together with the general director of the aviation complex, came up with the idea of ​​​​creating a leasing company that would buy Voronezh Il-96 M/T aircraft and lease them to Aeroflot.

Rubtsov, who knew Lebedev from raising financing for one of Gazprom’s projects, shared the idea with the banker and in 1999 headed the leasing company Ilyushin Finance Co (IFK). Lebedev became a shareholder with an 80% share (according to him), then government agencies received shares in the company. After the next issue in 2002, Lebedev’s companies jointly owned 41.5%, other major shareholders were the Ministry of Property (28.3%) and VEB (18%).

Problems began immediately, for example, it turned out that the Voronezh plant could not pay off a $75 million loan from Sberbank. Lebedev offered to pay off the debt in exchange for a share in the enterprise. He paid the debt with Ukrainian bonds, but instead of a share he received two Il-96s, which he contributed to the capital of IFC.

By 2010, Lebedev's stake in IFC was reduced to 25.8%. “I was washed away at every opportunity,” he sighs. But by this time, the businessman had prepared what seemed to be a successful replacement for aviation leasing, focusing on air transportation.

In 2006, Lebedev acquired 48% of the German charter company Blue Wings, equipped with Airbus aircraft, for $100 million. A year later, NRK bought the Airlines 400 company from co-owner of Vnukovo Airport Vitaly Vantsev for $7.5 million. It was renamed Red Wings, the old Tu-204s were taken out of service and seven new ones were purchased through IFC for $300 million.

At first the business developed well. At the end of 2008, Blue Wings, which was eighth in Germany in terms of traffic volume, took third place, Red Wings, which previously occupied 86th place in Russia, became 13th. But in 2009, German aviation authorities unexpectedly recalled Blue Wings has a license due to what they call serious financial problems. Lebedev accused the German management of “abuse and an attempt to bring the company to deliberate bankruptcy, laundering and fake reporting,” but failed to reach an agreement with the authorities. In January 2010, Blue Wings ceased operations. “Court proceedings are still ahead,” says Lebedev.

Fate Red Wings no less sad. In December 2012, the company's plane rolled out while landing on the Kiev highway. Five crew members were killed. The Federal Air Transport Agency has suspended the company's flights. In April, Lebedev sold the carrier for 1 ruble to GHP Group and the brother of the co-owner of the Guta group, Sergei Kuznetsov. And on June 18, the Federal Air Transport Agency gave the Red Wings the go-ahead to fly, renewing the operator’s certificate.

What about the IFC package? Back in January 2010, then-Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, having previously agreed with Lebedev, presented a deal outline for Prime Minister Putin’s consideration. VEB was supposed to buy out Lebedev's share in IFC with a 20% discount to Ernst & Young's valuation (for 5.4 billion rubles, or $178 million), and Lebedev was supposed to sell Aeroflot shares to the company itself for $382 million (at market value $520 million). Putin wrote a resolution: “I agree.” Aleksashenko called this solution “if not optimal, then a very reasonable solution.” After all, Lebedev would have received $560 million in cash and gotten rid of the headache of two problem assets.

The plan didn't work. “They deceived me,” Lebedev complains. He had barely sold the first 6% of his stake to Aeroflot when VEB put the brakes on the IFC deal. As a result, Lebedev agreed to receive two Ruslan transport aircraft worth $50 million for IFC shares. They are leased and bring in $1 million a month. The Aeroflot stake remains on the balance sheets of NRB and NRC for now.

In 2012, entrepreneur Suleiman Kerimov showed interest in this package, but, as his acquaintance says, the meeting with Lebedev ended in nothing, since he “talked about Putin, about anything except the terms of the sale.”

What is the result of Lebedev’s investments in the aviation industry? About $200 million was invested in IFC, approximately $380 million in Blue Wings and $310 million in Red Wings. A total of $890 million. As a result, he can receive two Ruslans worth $100 million. Lebedev has 4.5% left of the Aeroflot package, and they are still up for sale. And on June 24, none of the three candidates proposed by Lebedev to the board of directors of Aeroflot (Lebedev’s young son Egor, HSE Director of Macroeconomic Research Sergei Aleksashenko, NRB top manager Alexey Manoilo) received a sufficient number of votes to be elected.

Aleksashenko believes that Lebedev did not have a clear strategy: “He simply collected assets based on the principle of sectoral affiliation, hoping that maybe something would work out and he could make money on it. But it turned out that Red Wings had to compete with Aeroflot, where the state, as the controlling shareholder, demonstrated that 51% is equal to 100%.”

Operation Politician

The banker showed political activity in 2003. Then he simultaneously nominated himself for the Moscow mayoral elections and headed the Moscow list of Dmitry Rogozin’s Rodina party in the State Duma elections. Speaking with sharp criticism of Moscow corruption and traffic jams, Lebedev was able to collect about 12% of the votes of the city residents, and together with Rodina he entered the State Duma of the fourth convocation. There he quickly became a member of the United Russia faction, and then A Just Russia. He calls all his movements “tactical compromises.”

“My entry into politics has a utilitarian purpose, for example, the fight against Luzhkov’s corruption,” explains Lebedev. “But I need at least some kind of support, otherwise they will eat me.”

Lebedev the lawmaker was remembered, for example, for the project “On betting and gambling establishments,” where he proposed to withdraw gambling business a kilometer from the city limits. The project did not go through. The option introduced by President Putin was accepted: the eviction of casinos and “one-armed bandits” in special zones. However, Oleg Boyko, owner of Ritzio Entertainment Group, then the largest operator in the Russian gaming market and of Eastern Europe, blames the banker for trying to destroy his Russian business. Lebedev assures that his bill had nothing to do with personal relations with Boyko.

Having completed his parliamentary career, in 2009 Lebedev unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Sochi (the court removed his candidacy), and then tried to become a senator from the Legislative Assembly of the Kirov Region. An influential government official believes that “Lebedev needs to decide who he is - either Pussy Riot or making billions.” In the meantime, Lebedev has directed his energy and civic activity to support opposition media.

The history of the business magazine "Company", created in 1997 by journalist Andrei Grigoriev with Lebedev's money, left a bitter-sweet aftertaste for the banker. In 2004, after the tragedy at the Beslan school Chief Editor Grigoriev wrote an article “The End of the Putin Project.” This material became one of the reasons for changing the owner of the publication; the order came from the Kremlin. The “company” was bought by the Rodionov Publishing House, owned by Sergei Rodionov himself and entrepreneurs Iskander Makhmudov and Andrey Bokarev. According to Rodionov, the transaction price was $9 million, but Lebedev claims that he received $5 million.

Less than two years have passed since Lebedev, together with former USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev, became shareholders (39% and 10%, respectively) of a group critical of the ruling regime "Novaya Gazeta"(NG). By that time, its employees had not received salaries for three months, the monthly budget deficit was $30,000, and advertisers were fleeing, says the publication’s editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov.

Lebedev transferred $1 million to cover the publication’s debts and another $1 million for bonuses to employees, ranging from $5,000 to $50,000. Over six years, he donated about $13 million to the newspaper. In 2012, Lebedev announced that he was ready to leave the shareholders. Muratov admits that he feels guilty: “The newspaper was [for the authorities] one of the irritating factors, but there was not a word of reproach from Lebedev when problems arose with his business.” According to Muratov, Lebedev “really believes that supporting free media and freedom of speech is his mission.” More examples? British newspapers .

In January 2009, the banker bought The Evening Standard for a symbolic £1, and in March 2010, he bought another newspaper, The Independent, for the same amount. In February 2013, Lebedev’s company won a license to broadcast its London Live TV channel, reaching approximately 4 million households. By early 2013 he had invested £80m in dying newspapers and says the English media project will require a further £30-35m before he gets his first return on investment of £12-18m in 2015.

When The Evening Standard was bought, its annual losses amounted to £30 million. Since then, the circulation of the newspaper, transferred to free circulation, has tripled - to 700,000, losses from retail sales were covered by increased volumes of advertising. According to rival The Sunday Times, by September 2012 The Evening Standard had made its first £1 million in profit. The Independent remains unprofitable for now.

Derk Sauer, founder of the Independent Media publishing house (Vedomosti newspaper and glossy magazines) and the free English newspaper City AM, says that at first experts were skeptical: among the English newspapers that switched to free distribution, there was not a single successful one. “Lebedev was able to turn The Evening Standard around, and my hat goes off to him,” says Sauer.

However, the media story can also end sadly. On September 16, 2011, during the recording of the television program “NTVshniki,” Lebedev after a heated argument with developer Sergei Polonsky punched him twice, and he fell and tore his trousers. Videos recording the incident immediately appeared on YouTube, and the episode was broadcast. Lebedev is confident that NTV General Director Vladimir Kulistikov notified the Kremlin, on his instructions, transferred the video to Aram Gabrelyanov’s LifeNews web portal and broadcast it. “Many people dream of being reported to the Kremlin, or at least to Gabrelyanov, but, in my opinion, not a single person appeared in the NTVshniki program who would have received such an honor,” Kulistikov says ironically.

But Lebedev has no time for jokes. At the beginning of October 2011, on behalf of the chairman Investigative Committee A criminal case was opened against Alexander Bastrykin under the article of hooliganism “based on political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred.” According to the same article - with maximum term Punishment for up to five years - dancers from the group Pussy Riot were convicted. Started in May 2013 trial against Lebedev, and he could face a real prison sentence. One of the banker’s former partners does not rule out that he secretly even hopes to go to prison and become a martyr, just to remain in the spotlight for a while longer.

So, maybe it’s better for Lebedev to go to London, which he has long lived in, selling off his remaining property, and live calmly and happily? No, Lebedev is not going to emigrate, although “the Bastrykinites have been chasing him through the courts for 20 months.” “I, like Francis of Assisi, want to give everything away,” he tries to be ironic former intelligence officer. “But I will live, like Seraphim of Sarov, in the Russian forest.”

Banks and castles, shares and plantations: the empire of Alexander Lebedev in 7 facts

Billionaire Alexander Lebedev said in an interview with Reuters that he wants to get rid of all his business in Russia. “I’m trying to reduce all my projects completely - to zero. Just get out of business." Lebedev explained his plan for political reasons - otherwise his business would be “curtailed” by the authorities. The oligarch owns his vast empire, which includes land and shares, castles and oil companies, through the National Reserve Corporation (NRK, Lebedev owns 85%). What constitutes Lebedev's wealth?

(Data, unless otherwise indicated, as of early 2012. Media owned by Lebedev are not mentioned, since he himself does not consider them a business.)

National Reserve Bank. (NRK owns a little more than 78% of its shares) ranks 97th in Russia in terms of assets and 35th in terms of capital. The bank's capital partly consists of shares in Gazprom and Aeroflot. As of April 1, 2012, the capital of NRB amounted to 36.409 billion rubles. Lebedev’s share in NRB, excluding shares of state-owned companies, can be estimated at $112.9 million.

NRK Lebedev also owns a 99.5% stake in Energobank (Ukraine). The bank's capital is about $30 million, and Lebedev's share in Energobank can be estimated at $25.3 million. However, Energobank cannot be classified as the Russian assets that Lebedev spoke to Reuters.

Castles in Europe. In 2001, NRC acquired the luxury hotel Chateau des Forgets near Paris, in 2005 it acquired the Pallazzo Terranova hotel in Italy, in 2007 the Gutch Castle in Lucerne in Switzerland, in 2008 the 13th century castle in Perugia, Italy.

Aviation business. NRK Lebedev owns a 15.5% stake in Aeroflot. On August 3, Aeroflot shares cost $1.27 on the RTS. Thus, Lebedev’s shares in Aeroflot should be worth $185.8 million. Red Wings Airlines is wholly owned by Lebedev’s NRC. His share in it is worth approximately $53 million. NRK also owns 26% in Ilyushin Finance.

Real estate in Moscow and Ukraine. NRC owns a 50% share in a modern office building in the center of Moscow (60 Letiya Oktyabrya Street, 37), where the corporation's headquarters is located. The total area of ​​the building is 33,470 sq. m. m. Since 2009, half of the building has been owned by the Rusnano corporation. NRK also owns the Savvinsky Chambers, a historical building in the center of Moscow with a total area of ​​1,500 square meters. m.
NRK owns a 50% stake in the Ukraina Hotel in the center of Kyiv. The hotel has 375 rooms. In addition, Lebedev built a hotel complex on an area of ​​40 hectares along the sea coast in Alushta. It includes a boarding house with 229 rooms, the Almond Grove holiday home with a water park and the Slava sanatorium (pictured).

Gazprom. NRK owns 24.5 million shares of Gazprom. This is approximately a 0.1% monopoly share. Its value, taking into account the price of Gazprom shares on August 3, 2012, is $95.8 million.

Oil business. NRC owns the holding company oil company"NRK-Oil", founded in 2006. It included several small companies, of which now only two remain - Timan Oil and Gas and NK Samara. Their total cost is estimated to be close to $50 million.

Land for agriculture. NRK owns the National Land Company, which, according to Lebedev, owns 45,000 hectares of agricultural land in the Tula, Bryansk and Kaluga regions. On part of this land, Lebedev grows tomatoes. In total, these lands could be worth a little more than $100 million.

Alexander Evgenievich Lebedev is a major entrepreneur, banker, beneficial owner of the financial and industrial holding National Reserve Corporation, which includes about a hundred enterprises in various sectors of the economy, media tycoon, owner of a large stake in Novaya Gazeta, the British TV channel London Live, the influential publications Evening Standard, Independent, I Newspaper and other media resources. Previously, a people's deputy and KGB officer.

According to Forbes, he amassed a billion-dollar fortune in the late 1990s through transactions with commercial and government debt. In 2006, his capital reached $3.7 billion, but subsequently the entrepreneur lost most of his assets. In 2015, his assets were valued at $400 million.

Childhood and family of Alexander Lebedev

The future oligarch was born on December 16, 1959 in Moscow. The head of the family, Evgeny Nikolaevich Lebedev, was a well-known optical physicist in professional circles, a professor at the Moscow Higher Technical University. Bauman. Mom, Maria Sergeevna, taught students foreign language at MGIMO.

The parents gave their son an excellent education. At first he studied at school No. 17 with an English bias, then at the economics department of the Institute of International Relations. In 1982, upon completion of his studies, he began working at the academic Institute of Economics of the World Social System.

Career of Alexander Lebedev

In 1983, he was offered to join the ranks of state security officers. In 1984, Alexander graduated from the Red Banner Institute. Yu. Andropov KGB USSR. As an undercover intelligence officer, he held various positions in Soviet diplomatic missions abroad. Since 1987, Alexander lived and worked in the capital of Foggy Albion, which allowed him to make many useful contacts.

A successful diplomat, intelligence officer, part of the British establishment, acquired useful connections in business circles, met with Mikhail Prokhorov, Oleg Boyko, Vladimir Potanin, Andrei Kostin.

In 1991, a special services officer with the rank of KGB colonel resigned and began entrepreneurial activity. From 1992 to 1993, he was a representative of the banking institution Kompani Finansjer Tradison in the CIS.

Interview with banker Alexander Lebedev: the best in 4 minutes

In 1993, an ex-special services agent, in partnership with former colleagues, established the Russian Investment and Financial Company, included in the structure of the Imperial Bank, within which he specialized in the restructuring of external debts of the Russian Federation. In 1995, RIFK bought out the National Reserve Bank. Among its founders and main shareholders was Gazprom. In 1999, Lebedev initiated the creation and headed the National Investment Council.

Political career of Alexander Lebedev

In 2000, Alexander defended his candidate’s dissertation, and after three years, his doctoral dissertation. In 2003, he was nominated for the post of head of the capital's administration and received about 12% of the votes (versus about 75% of the votes for Yuri Luzhkov). According to analysts, this attempt was a means of making a name for itself in big politics.

During the same period, he became the head of the Rodina bloc, participated in parliamentary elections and was among the deputies of the State Duma of the fourth convocation. Then the parliamentarian left his business projects and posts, including the position of head of the NRB, and concentrated his efforts on fulfilling the tasks of the highest government body. He moved to United Russia, became deputy chairman of the Committee on CIS Affairs, head of the group of deputies for cooperation with the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada, and a member of the group of Russian delegates to PACE.

In 2006, the politician announced his entry into A Just Russia, and also, in partnership with Gorbachev, acquired a stake in Novaya Gazeta and transferred a package of Aeroflot securities to the foundation of the ex-president’s wife.

Biography of Alexander Lebedev from Discovery Channel

In 2007, Alexander Evgenievich took over the management of the National Reserve Corporation, receiving more than half of the company’s shares. In 2008, he was “expelled” from A Just Russia (allegedly due to the dissatisfaction of the Just Russia members in connection with the publication of information about the alleged divorce of Vladimir Putin and his wedding with Alina Kabaeva).

Alexander Lebedev hit Sergei Polonsky

In 2008, the New Media company was established, headed by Lebedev. In 2009, he acquired (for a symbolic cost of £1) the United Kingdom tabloid Evening Standard, becoming the first influential British publication to be owned by a Russian media tycoon. In 2010, he also bought the Independent for a similar fee.

Personal life of Alexander Lebedev

IN this moment The oligarch is married for the second time. His first wife was the daughter of academician Vladimir Sokolov, Natalya. Their common son, Evgeniy, was born in 1980. In 1998, the marriage broke up. Evgeniy Aleksandrovich became an economist and was the executive director of English media resources owned by his father (Independent, I Newspaper, Evening Standard).

The second choice of the millionaire was model Elena Perminova, who was younger than husband for 27 years. She gave him three children: Nikita (born in 2009), Egor (born in 2011) and Arina (born in 2014).

The businessman’s main hobbies are swimming and football.

Alexander Lebedev today

In 2011, the oligarch became a Duma deputy from Slobodsky municipal district, located in the north of the Kirov region. In 2012, critical articles about his business methods in various fields of activity (aviation, agriculture, construction) were published in the press. During the same period, the millionaire announced his intention to focus exclusively on publishing with the suspension of all his business projects in Russia. According to him, he concluded that his mission is to support free media.

Lebedev voluntarily provides selfless assistance to non-profit programs in the field of culture, ecology, and social protection. For this purpose, he created the Charitable Reserve Fund project.

Among Alexander Evgenievich’s awards are gratitude for participation in the election campaign of Boris Yeltsin, the Order of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Ukrainian Order of Yaroslav the Wise, the UNESCO Medal “Dialogue of Cultures” and other awards.

Banker, billionaire, president of the media holding "New Media"

Banker, billionaire, owner of the National Reserve Corporation, president of the National Investment Council, president of the New Media media holding. Deputy of the Slobodskaya District Duma for the Ilyinsky multi-mandate district No. 5 (Kirov region). Former deputy State Duma fourth convocation: at the elections in 2003 he headed the Moscow regional list of the Rodina bloc, in the same year he left the bloc and joined the United Russia faction, and in 2006 he left it and became an independent deputy, collaborated with the Fair Party Russia". Former employee KGB of the USSR. Doctor of Economic Sciences.

Alexander Evgenievich Lebedev was born in Moscow in 1959. In 1977, he entered the Faculty of Economics at MGIMO, and in 1982 he was assigned to the Institute of Economics of the World Socialist System of the USSR Academy of Sciences, where he began writing his PhD thesis (defended in October 2000). Soon he was asked to go to work at the First Main Directorate of the KGB (foreign intelligence), and from 1987 to 1991 Lebedev worked at the USSR Embassy in London.

In 1991, Lebedev retired to the reserve with the rank of lieutenant colonel and went into business. In 1993, he created and headed the Russian Investment and Financial Company. In 1995, RIFK acquired the National Reserve Bank. In 1999, together with the heads of large Russian companies and banks, Lebedev initiated the creation of the National Investment Council.

In 2003, Lebedev defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic “Financial globalization in the context of problems of global, regional and national (Russian) development.”

In December 2003, Lebedev ran for mayor of Moscow and won 12.35 percent of the vote, which observers considered a bid for a more serious result in the capital's mayoral elections in 2007. During the elections, Lebedev was supported by the Rodina bloc. At the same time, he took part in the parliamentary elections, heading the Moscow regional list of the Rodina bloc, and became a deputy of the State Duma. After his election, he left the post of president and chairman of the board of the National Reserve Bank. Already on December 20, deputy Lebedev left the Rodina bloc and joined the Duma faction of the United Russia party.

In 2003-2004, Lebedev, as the owner of 30 percent of the shares of Aeroflot, was mentioned in the media in connection with the holding of a tender to transfer control of Sheremetyevo International Airport. During presidential elections in Ukraine at the end of 2004, Lebedev supported the “orange”, counting on preferences for his Ukrainian business, but later repeatedly stated that the new Ukrainian government was putting pressure on him and his business partners. In June 2006, Lebedev intervened in the conflict between residents of the Yuzhnoye Butovo microdistrict and the Moscow authorities, who attempted, on the basis of a court decision, to forcibly relocate residents from their private homes.

In 2007, Lebedev joined the A Just Russia party, led by Speaker of the Federation Council Sergei Mironov. It was reported that he would become number one on the Moscow party list in the State Duma elections, but later information appeared that the businessman, at the request of the Kremlin, would not do this. Indeed, on September 23, 2007, the A Just Russia congress approved the list of candidates for upcoming elections to the State Duma, and Lebedev was not in it. In April 2008, Lebedev was removed from the leadership.

At the beginning of June 2008, based on the publication owned by Lebedev " New Newspaper"The media holding "New Media" was registered. It was planned that the new holding would include other media assets of the entrepreneur: the newspaper "Moscow Correspondent" and two radio frequencies. Lebedev took the post of president of the new structure. In 2009-2010, he became the owner of the famous British publications Evening Standard and The Independent.

In April 2009, Lebedev was registered as a candidate in the mayoral elections of Sochi. However, in the same month the court Central region The city of Sochi declared the decision of the election commission to register a businessman illegal.

According to media estimates, by 2006, the total assets of Lebedev's National Reserve Corporation (NRC) exceeded two billion dollars. The main asset of the corporation was called the National Reserve Bank, which has the second largest block of shares after the state in the Aeroflot airline (about 30 percent) and the leasing company Ilyushin Finance Co. (IFK, 44 percent). In addition to the bank, Lebedev's NRK included the National Meat Company, the National Mortgage Company, the NRB Finance company and a number of construction organizations. In January 2010, Aeroflot's board of directors approved the purchase of 25.8 percent of the company's shares from NRK. At the same time, an agreement was reached that NRC would sell 26 percent of IFC shares to VEB. The first part of the deal - the purchase of 6.3 percent of shares by Aeroflot Finance - was closed at the end of February 2010. However, the second one never took place: the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation opposed VEB’s purchase of IFC shares, after which Lebedev refused to further sell the shares. In December of the same year, during the placement, the businessman sold 4 of his remaining 19 percent shares in Aeroflot.

In February 2011, Lebedev sold 15 percent of NRB shares to his son Evgeniy. The transaction amount was not disclosed.

In March of the same year, Lebedev as a candidate took part in the elections to the Slobodskaya District Duma of the Kirov Region in the Ilyinsky four-mandate district No. 5. Having received just under 40 percent of the vote, he became a deputy of the district duma that same month.

In 2008, Russian Forbes placed Lebedev in 39th place in the ranking of the richest Russians, with his fortune estimated at $3.1 billion.

Lebedev is divorced and has two sons. The entrepreneur enjoys football and swimming.