Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Sheilbh]

How odious an oligarch is this Lebedev chap?

Honestly not that bad compared to most of the oligarchs who've operated in London (Abramovich, Deripraska, Berezovsky etc).

His dad is the issue really - but he's not a top-tier oligarch. But he was also an early oligarch who did well in the 90s and has lost under Putin.

His dad was KGB economic attache to London in the 80s. He became an oligarch in the 90s, with interests in banking and Russian media - I think a lot of those businesses have since failed (or, more accurately, been allowed to fail and picked apart by other oligarchs). So he's not a billionaire or oligarch with control over any key sectors. But he is still spectacularly rich with properties all over Europe.  He's not, by any stretch of the imagination, an opponent of Putin but he actually did a lot of deals with Gorbachev - so they jointly bought Novaya Gazeta which is one of the more independent bits of the Russian media.

My assumption is he never really left the security services, made a lot of money in the 90s and was on the losing side in the 00s. But got the message from Berezovsky etc to not get political or oppose Putin and, probably, still keep the lines open with old KGB colleagues. He was close to Gorbachev and Yeltsin.

I have a bit more sympathy with Lord Lebedev (Evgeny Lebedev) than most. He grew up and was educated in Britain. He became a British citizen in 2010. It's an open secret he's gay. Basically all his money comes from his dad which is his Russian interest. From what I understand all his actual business interests have been in Western Europe (and he doesn't seem very good at business to be honest). He has media companies, luxury hotels, restaurants, invests in couture houses and some side projects/hobbies like a (very good) pub he co-owns with Ian McKellen. He used to do fund-raisers with Elton John for AIDS, with Anna Wintour and Vogue and that sort of thing. Lots of art collecting and sponsoring of exhibitions.

He also has a reputation for absolutely lavish hospitality - which could be very weird, as he'd pull on his dad's relationships. So he'd have sort of huge, wild costume parties where the guest of honour would be Mikhail Gorbachev or Boris Yeltsin. He's done fundraisers for the Raisa Gorbacheva Foundation too which I think is indicative of the political side him and his father were on. But again I can't help but suspect there's a KGB link to these in terms of getting leverage.

Edit: An example of the hospitality was the launch of the Raisa Gorbacheva Foundation - whee he rented Princess Diana's childhood home for a white tie "Russian Midsummer fantasia" themed party. One attendee remembered seeing Mikhael Gorbachev, Salman Rushdie, Orlando Bloom and Naomi Campbell dancing in a circle.

And on the gay point he is literally bearded and regularly used to have a celebrity "girlfriend" - so Private Eye nicknamed him "Two Beards".

[PRC]

It reads like a Mick Herron plot.