Lebedev - to the exit?

The famous Russian media Magnate and banker Alexander Lebedev intends to sell all his assets in Russia. A successful businessman, a native of the KGB Lebedev fears criminal prosecution for political reasons and growing pressure from the authorities, reports information agencies.

Banker Lebedev is concerned that they can do with him, as with the famous blogger and lawyer Alexei Navalny, that is, to file some accusation and take a recognizance not to leave. According to the MEMAMAGNATE, with the greatest degree of probability, the charges will be brought under the article “Hooliganism” in connection with the incident that occurred on the set of the NTVshniki TV shows in September 2011, when Lebedev hit the face of businessman Dmitry Polonsky.

The banker also notes that in Russia there is currently a disturbing tendency - a persecution of dissenters, which became practice after the return of Vladimir Putin to the post of President of Russia.

The leader of the Yabloko party , Sergei Mitrokhin, believes that the fears of Alexander Lebedev are quite justified:

- Lebedev does not hide his interest in politics. He supports individual politicians, finances the "new newspaper", which is very critical of the authorities. There is constantly pressure on it, some searches are taking place in the bank, there are probably some other forms of influence and pressure that he does not speak out loud about .... This case once again shows that there is no independent business in Russia. Business in Russia must comply with the strict conditions that the power dictates to him. These conditions are not based on the law. The business should be loyal or simply neutral, and in no way participate in politics. And if participating, then the extreme case of retaliation is an example of Khodorkovsky, ”said Sergey Mitrokhin.

Living abroad, the former chief lawyer of the oil company Yukos Dmitry Gololobov is in no hurry to associate the conflict of banker Lebedev with his political activity:

-Some intensity, for example, in the case of Evgeny Chichvarkin, in the case of Lebedev. He is not charged with any official charges, claims are not formalized. It is possible that something happens deep and does not go out. But this "something" is hidden from the public. I know quite a lot of people who lived in Russia, and then - once! -And somehow they appeared in London. Without explanation. Some of these people simply sell business because they are tired of working in Russia. They earned enough and said - everything, I do not want to do business in Russia anymore, I want to calmly live in London on the money earned. Therefore, I would not look for a black cat in a dark room, especially if it is not there.

- But Lebedev is not just a major businessman, he is also the owner of a number of media, including the opposition Novaya Gazeta, who writes a lot about corruption in the highest echelons of power.

- Well, there is a certain number of opposition newspapers that are allowed to exist in Russia. A certain balance is created, a certain visibility of observing freedom of speech. If the owner of such a media does not cross certain boundaries, nothing bad happens to him. I will give another example. "Echo of Moscow" belongs to Gazprommedia. And what? Gazprommedia is not trying to ask him. Therefore, I do not think that Lebedev is pursued for the fact that he is the owner of the newspaper ... I do not have such a feeling.

-Well, what then, in your opinion, is the cause of the conflict?

- It seems to me that there is a coincidence of certain motives, and not one of them is decisive. I would say that they have not yet run into a person to such an extent that he needs to leave. At the same time, a person could decide that he earned in Russia everything he could, and he no longer had special prospects. The lack of prospects for doing business is also the basis for leaving. But I do not see such a basis, at least it is not publicly covered. It seems to me that if it is seriously enough, it must be publicly lit. Remember Mikhail Gutseriev - there was a scandal, the same Chichvarkin - also a scandal, others - there were also scandals. In cases I mentioned, everything burst out, and it was clear to everyone what happened, around which there were conflicts.

- Several months at the National Reserve Bank of the Central Bank and the FSB conducted an audit. Lebedev called this politically motivated one. How do you explain this?

- In many banks there are searches, they just do not talk about it. For banking, this is completely normal. Someone begins to inflate a story from this, says that he is being persecuted. The search is often associated with a specific client. The larger the bank, the more often searches and the seizure of documents.

- Let's summarize our conversation.

-The motives of Lebedev’s act are quite possibly either personal or related to a not very successful business, or with something like that. All observations of recent years say that people left, slamming the door loudly when they had serious conflicts, outgrown into public, ”says Dmitry Gololobov.

Alexander Lebedev owns in Russia assets in the field of agriculture, in construction, in banking and media sector. He is a co -owner of the opposition "Novaya Gazeta". The state of the businessman is estimated at 1.1 billion dollars.