Alexander Lebedev
Alexander Lebedev Jewgenjewitsch (Russian Александр Евгеньевич Лебедев; born December 16, 1959 in Moscow ) is a Russian oligarch and politician.
The Forbes Magazine listed him in May 2008 with a fortune of 3.1 billion U.S. dollars to rank the list of the 358 richest people in the world and one of him with it also the richest Russians.
On August 3, 2012, he announced his withdrawal from Russia. He was subjected to threats and extortion of Russian domestic intelligence service (FSB ), which he could not stand up any longer.
Life
Alexander Lebedev is the child of a family of the Moscow educational elite ( Intelligentsia ). His father was a professor at the Moscow Institute of Technology and a former member of the Soviet national water polo team. His mother taught as an English teacher.
From 1977 to 1982 Lebedev completed a course in economics at Moscow State Institute of International Relations. He then worked at the Institute of Economics of the World Socialist System. There he began to write his thesis about the debt problems and economic development of Russia and the challenges of financial globalization.
Soon after, he moved to senior positions of the International Department of the KGB and its successor organization, the FSB, where he worked until 1992. He was employed here at the City of London to combat capital flight from Russia, and was thus able to gain a good insight into the Western finance.
Political career
2003 candidate Lebedev as Moscow mayor, but was defeated with 13 % of votes. In the same year he successfully ran for the State Duma on the list of the conservative party Rodina. After the election, he joined the pro-government United Russia party. After the rise of Rodina in the socialist coalition Fair Russia he returned to it, and is now represented in the party leadership. Lebedev is, including Vice- President of the CIS Committee of the Duma.
End of September 2008 it was announced that Lebedev wants to start with the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, the Independent Democratic Party.
In the Russian regional elections of March 2011 Lebedev was elected in Kirov region to the deputies of the Duma of the Rajons Slobodskoi this. Receives the fourth largest of the four candidates of the village Ilinski It has been speculated that he thus wants to create the opportunity to be delegated to the Federation Council; this right shall only members of regional parliaments since 2011.
Entrepreneurial activities
His first business was the investment company Русская инвестиционно - финансовая компания. In 1995, he bought this at that time small in financial troubled National Reserve Bank, and made them in a short time become one of the largest Russian banks. The National Reserve Bank was the only one of the ten largest Russian banks that survived the 1998 financial crisis in Russia except the Alfa Bank. Today it is one of the 30 largest banks in the country.
The Bank holds, among other things:
- 30 % stake in Russia's largest airline Aeroflot ( the largest private shareholder )
- 44 % of the Ilyushin Finance Co, which in turn holds a significant interest in the Russian aircraft industry
- Shares in Sberbank, Gazprom and Unified Energy System.
The bank is the core component of the Group National Reserve Corporation (NRC ), which stops after Lebedev's own information assets of around 2 billion U.S. dollars. At the National Reserve Corporation, a meat processing company, a real estate group ( Национальная Ипотечная Компания ), construction companies, and various subsidiary companies in the textile industry, the telecommunications industry, in vehicle (buses, trams ), power stations, chemical companies and in the tourism industry include (among others a hotel chain in Ukraine). Furthermore, Lebedev holds interests in various media, including Mikhail Gorbachev, together with 49% of the newspaper Novaya Gazeta critical of the government.
In Germany he owns through a subsidiary of the NRC 48 % stake in the airline Blue Wings. In the spring of 2008 it was announced that Lebedev will take over 76 % stake in the travel company Oger Tours, subject to the approval of the antitrust authorities; the Turkish activities of Oger Group are not affected. He has also submitted a bid for a stake in the financially troubled IKB German industrial bank, which was several times higher than in the U.S. financial investment company Lone Star, which was awarded the contract. However, it was not considered because it was allegedly not filed within the offer period.
In early 2009 Lebedev bought a majority stake in the British newspaper Evening Standard on.
In March 2010, Lebedev bought the British newspaper The Independent.
Patron
Lebedev is a patron of numerous cultural and social facilities and has a separate fund established for this purpose.
Retreat
On August 3, 2012, he announced his withdrawal from Russia. He was subjected to threats and extortion of the domestic intelligence service, where he could not stand up any longer.
The pressure on him had increased since the return of Vladimir Putin to the presidency ( 4 March 2012 were in Russia presidential elections ). It complains that it to be the chief sponsor of the opposition.
Previously, he had been repeatedly critical of the government and expressed support of the opposition. 2012 Lebedev was supported, among others, the well-known blogger Alexei Navalny and corruption critics who scored in winter 2011/12 to the leaders of protests against then- Prime Minister Putin.