“Dear Pleasure” by Alexander Lebedev. The son of oligarch Alexander Lebedev about Russians in London: “These people are from the very bottom”

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 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

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

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

The second choice of the millionaire was model Elena Perminova, who was 27 years younger than her husband. 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

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.

Alexander Evgenievich Lebedev is a Russian banker, head of the National Reserve Corporation, owner of large London print publications Evening Standard, Independent, I Newspaper.

The future businessman was born on December 16, 1959 in the capital of the USSR. Father Evgeniy Nikolaevich taught at the Moscow Higher Technical School named after. Bauman optical physics, mother Maria Sergeevna - foreign languages ​​at MGIMO. Son Alexander, after graduating from school with in-depth study of English, entered MGIMO at the Faculty of Economics. At the age of 23, Alexander got a job at the department of economics at the Institute of the World Social System.

Career in the USSR

A year later, Lebedev entered the KGB structure and studied at the Red Banner Institute. . As an undercover agent, Alexander Evgenievich worked in Soviet diplomatic missions of European states. In 1987, a young employee was sent to serve in the UK, where over the course of 4 years he acquired the necessary connections and acquaintances in the circles of foreign entrepreneurs. In the last years of the existence of the Soviet Union, entrepreneurs Oleg Boyko became Lebedev’s business partners.

With the fall of the Soviet system in the country, Alexander went into the reserve and began working in private business. Lebedev begins his entrepreneurial biography with work at the financial corporation Kompani Finansjer Tradison, whose offices were located in the former republics of the Soviet Union. Studying the mechanisms of a market economy in fact allowed the young businessman to create his own “National Financial Company”. Two years later, the corporation became part of the National Reserve Bank, the leadership position of which was taken by Alexander Evgenievich. In 1999, under the chairmanship of the entrepreneur, the National Investment Council was created.

Business

Being a major businessman, Lebedev continued his scientific activities in the early 2000s. In 2003, a doctoral dissertation appeared from his pen, which was devoted to the topic of the impact of financial globalization on the Russian economy. In the same year, Alexander Evgenievich participated in the elections of the mayor of the capital as a candidate. He took third place in terms of the number of votes. A few months later, the entrepreneur entered the State Duma from the Rodina party. According to the established law, the deputy does not have the right to engage in business, so he had to leave the post of head of the NRB. While serving in the State Duma, Alexander Evgenievich moved from his faction to the United Russia party.

In the early 2000s, Lebedev supported the new government of Ukraine, counting on further business development in the neighboring state. Subsequently, the deputy stopped all ties with representatives of the new Ukrainian government. Alexander Evgenievich participates in the life of Muscovites, helping residents of the capital resolve issues related to illegal resettlement from their own homes.

Since 2007, Lebedev has become the right hand of the Speaker of the Federation Council, the leader of the A Just Russia faction, and even runs for the State Duma from this party. But for some reasons, Lebedev withdrew his candidacy, and a year later he left the leading party circle. In 2009, the entrepreneur became a candidate for the post of mayor of Sochi, but the election commission canceled his registration. In 2011, Lebedev became a deputy of the legislative assembly in the Kirov region, Slobodsky district.

Since 2008, Lebedev has registered the New Media holding on the basis of his own publishing house Novaya Gazeta. It includes the newspaper “Moscow Correspondent”, radio stations “Simple Radio” and “Good Songs”. A year later, for a nominal fee, the tycoon acquired the British publications Evening Standard and The Independent. In 2009, Lebedev independently bankrupted his own airline Blue Wings, which operated in Germany, and merged it with the Russian Aeroflot.

Since 2009, the National Reserve Bank has been constantly subject to inspections initiated by the Central Bank. Control has strengthened since 2012 after NRB was appointed to the board of directors of Aeroflot. This entailed the sale of all assets of the airline in order to revive the activities of the financial institution.

Personal life

The entrepreneur is married for the second time. The first wife, Natalya Sokolova, worked as a microbiologist; her father, Vladimir Sokolov, was known in the USSR as a biologist and member of the Academy of Sciences. In his first marriage, in 1980, Lebedev had a son, Evgeniy. When Alexander Evgenievich was appointed representative of the diplomatic mission in London, Lebedev moved his family there. Since then, Evgeniy has lived in the UK permanently. The young man received a higher education as an economist there. After graduating from university, Evgeniy was appointed executive director of Lebedev's English publications. Alexander Evgenievich’s first union fell apart in the late 90s, unable to withstand the test of distance.

For the second time, the entrepreneur entered into a relationship with a model who is 27 years younger than him. The oligarch met his future wife when he worked as a State Duma deputy. The father of Elena, who was involved in a drug scandal, approached Lebedev in the hope of Alexander Evgenievich’s help in the trial. Lebedev not only freed the young girl from persecution, proving her innocence, but also got Elena a job at a modeling agency, and then offered to live together. Despite the fact that the young people did not have a wedding, Alexander and Elena are still inseparable.

In 2009, Elena gave birth to her first child, Nikita, and 2 years later, her second son, Yegor. In 2014, the long-awaited beautiful daughter Arina appeared in the oligarch’s family. Elena spends a lot of time with children, not forgetting her profession. In 2011, the model received the position of editor-in-chief at the fashion publication ROR. Now Lebedev’s second family is also in the UK. The young mother runs her own page on Instagram, where she posts joint photos with her children, husband and friends. Elena Perminova pays a lot of attention to her daughter’s appearance, trying to raise her to be a real lady with good taste.

State

Thanks to the activities of the National Reserve Corporation holding, starting from the second half of the 90s, Alexander Lebedev’s income increased from several million to billions. In 2006, the value of the corporation's securities was $2 billion. At that time, the NRC included the assets of Aeroflot, Ilyushin Finance Co., National Meat Company, National Mortgage Company, NRB Finance, and construction organizations.

This allowed the billionaire to rank 39th among the richest entrepreneurs in Russia in 2008, according to Forbes magazine. But due to the machinations of trusted people in the team and their betrayal, Lebedev lost most of his fortune, and his rating dropped to 183rd place. At the moment, the businessman’s total savings are $400 million.

Alexander Lebedev is not active in business, but is focused on raising children. Together with his wife and children, the oligarch spends a lot of time on the sea coast. In London, the couple attend social events.

So, in November 2016, Alexander and Elena attended the Animal Ball charity evening, where James Middleton and his friend Donna Air, Princess Eugenie, also appeared in animalistic outfits. In March 2017, the Lebedevs attended the opening of the Longchamp flagship boutique in GUM in Moscow, as well as the Aquazzura party.

Natalya Lebedeva (Sokolova) was born in 1959 into an intelligent family.

Father - Vladimir Evgenievich Sokolov - Russian and Soviet biologist, zoologist, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Member of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician-Secretary of the Department of General Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Director of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution named after A.N. Severtsova.

Mother - Svetlana Mikhailovna Sokolova, née Stepanova (born October 3, 1929), candidate of biological sciences, senior researcher at the Main Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences, daughter of an employee of the science department of the CPSU Central Committee M. Stepanov.

Natalya followed in her mother's footsteps and received an education as a microbiologist. She married an employee of the Institute of Economics of the World Socialist System of the USSR Academy of Sciences - Alexander Lebedev. On May 8, 1980, their son Evgeniy was born.

Alexander got a job at the Soviet embassy in London and moved to the UK with his family. Evgeniy was eight years old and went to a city school.

Natalia and Alexander raised a wonderful son.

Zhenya is the Chairman of the Board of Directors and owner of the Evening Standard Ltd publishing house. Under his leadership Evening Standard became the first freely distributed large-circulation newspaper in Britain, with a circulation of 600,000 copies.

Evgeniy has not yet pleased his mother with grandchildren; he is not married. But he has broken many hearts. This includes Geri Halliwell, Gillian Anderson, and Elizabeth Hurley, and there are countless models.

Everything changed 12 years ago.

Alexander met love that changed his life. She is a supermodel from Siberia, a beauty with long legs, who got into trouble. Elena Perminova immediately captivated Alexander with her intelligence, erudition, ability to support any conversation, both at social events and at business parties, and of course her external data played an important role.

Agree, it was impossible to resist such beauty.

The bad man with whom 17-year-old Lena was in love forced her to sell illegal drugs. Evil and envious gossips now remind her of this at every opportunity. But she didn’t understand anything then!!! She thought she was giving out ascorbic acid at the club, how can you!!!

Alexander helped Elena restore justice, and she was given a suspended sentence.

Many years have passed since then. Elena became the main Russian fashionista. She gave birth to three beautiful children. And now he has been living in friendship with Alexander for 12 years.

Natalya, as a very wise and intelligent woman, stepped aside. Now he lives well in Europe, doing science.

And the fact that embittered gossips are gossiping about the fact that Alexander still has not divorced Natalya. So this is out of envy of Lena’s money!!! Still, they see on her Instagram what luxurious gifts he gives her, mansions, objects of art, jewelry. Alexander is just a busy businessman. And he never got around to filing a divorce. In 2 years he will retire, free time will appear, and you and I will still see a gorgeous wedding that will thunder throughout Russia!!! What about Russia, Europe!!!

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.

The typical image of a Russian entrepreneur who has achieved success in business, with a belly bulging from physical inactivity and bags under the eyes from fighting constant stress with the help of strong drinks, does not correspond to the youthful and active Lebedev. From his youth, the chairman of the board of directors of CJSC National Reserve Corporation was friends with sports and a healthy lifestyle. 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 will not 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 a senior fellow diplomat, Andrei Kostin, he profitably dealt with the debts of the former USSR in 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 a live television pavilion, Lebedev, without hesitation or entering into a verbal altercation, knocked out the outrageous 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 the popular Russian proverb that establishes a cause-and-effect relationship between gray beards and lust, Alexander Lebedev plunged headlong into a love affair 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.

Lebedev Alexander Evgenievich (born December 16, 1959, Moscow, RSFSR, USSR) is a Russian businessman. Chairman of the Board of Directors of CJSC National Reserve Corporation, former deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation. Owner of the British newspapers Independent and Evening Standard, as well as the license for the London Live satellite television channel. The largest private shareholder and investor of Novaya Gazeta. Doctor of Economic Sciences.

He graduated from Moscow special school No. 17 (at different times he studied with and). In 1982 he graduated from MGIMO with a degree in international economic relations. In 1984 he graduated from the Red Banner Institute of the KGB of the USSR. In 2000 he defended his Ph.D. thesis. In 2003, he defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic “Financial globalization in the context of problems of global, regional and national (Russian) development.”

Member of the CPSU since 1979. In 1982-1983 he worked at the Institute of Economics of the World Socialist System of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1983-1992 he worked at the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs and held various diplomatic posts (attaché, third and second secretary) in Russian embassies. Since 1987, he worked at the Soviet Embassy in Great Britain in the USSR Foreign Intelligence Residency. In 1993, together with a group of former employees of the USSR Embassy in Great Britain, he founded the Russian Investment and Financial Company (RIFK JSC), where he took the post of chairman of the board of directors. RIFK, as a founder, became part of the Imperial Bank, and Lebedev became the head of the bank's foreign investment department.

In 1995-2004 - President and General Director of the National Reserve Bank (JSC), the largest shareholder of which was Gazprom. Since 2002 - member of the board of directors of OJSC Federal Grid Company of the Unified Energy System (FGC UES). In 2003, he took part in the elections for the mayor of Moscow as a candidate (received 12.35% of the votes). In the 2003 parliamentary elections, he headed the Moscow regional list of the Rodina bloc. Following the results of the parliamentary elections, Alexander Lebedev was elected to the State Duma of the Russian Federation. He joined the faction of the United Russia party. In 2007 he joined the A Just Russia party. In 2007, he sponsored the publication of the anti-Luzhkov newspaper “Moscow Correspondent” (closed due to the publication of a scandalous article about the close relationship of Vladimir Putin and).

Since 2008 - Chairman of the Board of Directors of CJSC National Reserve Corporation. In 2009, he acquired a controlling stake in the London newspaper The Evening Standard of the Daily Mail & General Trust holding company for the symbolic sum of 1 pound sterling. In 2010, for a symbolic 1 pound sterling, he purchased the British liberal-democratic newspaper The Independent. In 2011, he became a deputy of the Slobodskaya District Duma of the Kirov Region. In 2012, he had a fight on air with the former owner of the development company Mirax. In July 2013, he was sentenced by the Ostankino Court in Moscow to 150 hours of compulsory labor in the case of beating Sergei Polonsky. He served his sentence while working to repair a kindergarten and school in the village of Popovka, Moscow Region, from November 26, 2013 to March 12, 2014.

Married for the second time. From his first marriage he has a son (Evgeniy, born in 1980, has lived in the UK since 1988, has British citizenship), from his second - sons Nikita (born in 2009), Egor (born in 2011) and daughter Arina (born in 2014).