Russian police stage ‘mask show’ at Lebedev’s offices

Alexander Lebedev, the owner of the London Evening Standard and Independent newspapers, is reportedly in "negotiations" with police after they raided his National Reserve Corporation bank in Moscow while he was inside.

According to the Guardian, 20 to 30 masked, armed police turned up unannounced this morning at Lebedev's offices.

There were fears that the tycoon, who co-owns the pro-democracy Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, and who derives most of his fortune from his banking activities, may be arrested, but they have been played down by his spokesman, Artyom Artyomov.

Lebedev and the police are "holding negotiations", Artyomov told the Guardian. "He isn't arrested. They have something they want to do in our bank. We have [police] with masks and guns here. They want some background information and are presently carrying out a search." He told Reuters: "This is known as a mask show in Russia."

It is possible there is a link between today's raid and yesterday's publication by Novaya Gazeta of a four-page interview with Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the oligarch who fell foul of Vladimir Putin and has been in jail for the past seven years, charged with fraud.

Lebedev shares the building where his offices are located with economic liberal politician Anatoly Chubais, who was a prominent figure in former Russian president Boris Yeltsin's administration. He is the CEO of Rusnano, a state-owned organisation which aims to create a lucrative industry in nanotechnology in Russia by 2015.

Russian news agency Interfax confirmed the story: "Several armed men wearing masks have entered the building in southwestern Moscow, where the Rusnano corporation and the National Reserve Bank are headquartered." ·