The Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev has quit his role at a company connected to the Independent, shortly after being placed under economic sanctions by Canada for “directly enabling” the Russian war in Ukraine.
It means the former KGB agent now has no formal link to the British news outlet, in a move that may protect the Independent from any issues relating to the sanctions.
Canada last week named Lebedev on a list of 14 prominent people who had “directly enabled Vladimir Putin’s senseless war in Ukraine and bear responsibility for the pain and suffering of the people of Ukraine”. Canadian individuals and businesses are now banned from conducting business with him and connected entities.
The 62-year-old Russian bought the Independent for £1 in 2010, having previously taken control of London’s Evening Standard for the same sum the previous year. He later transferred control of the publications to his son Evgeny – a friend of Boris Johnson who was recently given a seat in the House of Lords by the prime minister, despite concerns from the security services. The two news outlets have since racked up huge losses, while giving the Lebedevs a degree of influence in British society, although the Independent has returned a profit in recent years.
Corporate filings show Alexander Lebedev stepped down as a director of Independent Print Ltd on Sunday, the day after it was publicly reported that he was on the Canadian sanctions list. The company, which published the print edition of the Independent until 2016, is owned by Evgeny, who is also an owner of the Independent and Evening Standard.
A spokesperson for the newspapers played down the importance of the elder Lebedev’s resignation from the IPL board of directors, saying he had not been actively involved in the news outlets since 2016. They said: “Alexander Lebedev has no role, commercial or otherwise, in the running of either the Independent or the Evening Standard.”
Alexander Lebedev rose to prominence as a banker in the 1990s in Russia before funding the opposition Novaya Gazeta outlet. His wife, Elena Perminova, 35, has continued to post updates on her widely followed Instagram account about fashion launches, with recent pictures showing the family on a holiday in Istanbul.
The decision to put Alexander Lebedev on the sanctions list has renewed scrutiny of the prime minister’s decision to award a peerage to his 42-year-old son. The government has so far failed to comply with a House of Commons instruction to release information about the decision to make Evgeny Lebedev a peer, arguing this would undermine the confidentiality of those nominated to the upper house of parliament and could degenerate into “political point-scoring”.
The Cabinet Office minister, Michael Ellis, told parliament he did not believe it was in the public interest to release the correspondence relating to the decision, adding: “Lord Lebedev is a man of good standing.”
The ownership of the Independent and Evening Standard has long been a source of intrigue. Since taking control of the outlets from his father, Evgeny Lebedev has sold minority stakes in them to a bank with close connections to the Saudi Arabian state.
• This article was amended on 27 May 2022. An earlier version implied that Alexander Lebedev quit a “role” connected to the current publisher of the Independent newspaper, Independent Digital News and Media Limited. In fact, Alexander Lebedev resigned as a director of Independent Print Limited, which had been the publisher of the print edition of the newspaper until 2016. Text was also added to reflect that the Independent has returned a profit in recent years.
