Bank Raid Could Have Been Warning Against Planned WikiLeaks Russian Corruption Expose Says Lebedev

[Hissyspit]

Source: Daily Mail

Bank raid could have been warning against planned WikiLeaks Russian corruption expose says Alexander Lebedev
By GLEN OWEN AND WILL STEWART
Last updated at 12:17 PM on 14th November 2010

Billionaire newspaper magnate Alexander Lebedev could have been targeted in a raid by secret service agents as a warning against co-operating with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to expose Russian corruption. 

Sources in Moscow believe that Mr Lebedev, owner of The Independent and the London Evening Standard in the UK and the Novaya Gazeta in Russia, was being sent a ‘message’ not to threaten powerful interests.

The Mail on Sunday told last week how Mr Lebedev’s National Reserve Bank was raided by dozens of heavily armed law-enforcement officers, on the pretext of a fraud investigation, leaving the former KGB spy fearing he would be arrested.

Wikileaks recently caused huge embarrassment to America and Britain by releasing almost half a million secret US files on military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Last month it announced that it was planning to make public classified documents about the ‘despotic’ Moscow regime. 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1329561/Wikileaks-Russian-corruption-expose-plan-linked-Alexander-Lebedev-bank-raid.html

[xchrom]

1. interesting -- and exposing russian corruption -- oy there's a lifetime of work. nt

[drm604]

2. A short lifetime...

Assange is really playing with fire this time. More power to him on this.

[xchrom]

3. funny -- very funny -- but oh so true. nt

[BillH76]

7. Indeed. nt

[Turborama]

4. The Independent and the London Evening Standard are owned by a Russian billionaire & former KGB spy?

Wow, I didn't know that. I always thought that the ES was a subsidiary of The Mail and hadn't heard about The Independent being bought out.

The Independent was possibly the only English language broadsheet that was against the 2003 invasion of Iraq and I always thought it was one of the best Liberal newspapers in the world. Hopefully, the new ownership won't succumb to the pressures being apparently applied to their editorial policies by Russia's "powerful interests".

[nvme]

5. wOW

Wasn't there a highly publicized operation in England or somewhere in western Europe? The victim was poisoned with a radioactive substance they found residue in a teapot and at all of the places the perpetrator and victim visited. The perpetrator fled back to Russia. The victim died weeks later afterward. What made it a Russian Gov Black Op was the fact that the substance used is not available on the open marke and it cost millions per volume.

US is a severely nasty bunch when it comes to Black ops but Russia makes us look like children with their ruthlessness. They literally will spare no expense to find their target.

Wikileaks just might find themselves in a spot. I guess that is the risk they assume.

[NoodleyAppendage]

6. Assange is REALLY tempting death by going after the Russians.

If recent (and remote) history is any guide, Assange is treading on very dangerous ground. It's only a matter of time before he's cut down in public or leaking radiation out of every bodily pore. I hope he has super security details.

J