Ex-K.G.B. Agent Buying London Tabloid

[groovedaddy]

(something about this just smells to me - gd)

PARIS — He had been one of the K.G.B.’s men in London, a spy who rose swiftly through the ranks. Yet, when Soviet Communism collapsed, he switched seamlessly to its ideological rival as a banker worth billions in the free-wheeling capitalism of the new Russia. Some British newspapers took to calling him the spy who came in for the gold.

Now, the former spy, Aleksandr Y. Lebedev, the owner of a major Russian bank, a chunk of the Aeroflot airline and a big share of a newspaper in Moscow, is heading back to London in a different guise altogether.

So a man who once spied on Britain for the Kremlin is returning as a press baron, adding one more strand to the weave of wealth binding Russian tycoons to London.

On Wednesday, Mr. Lebedev announced that he had agreed to buy a majority stake in The Evening Standard, a newspaper that has long been a part of London’s fabric, offering commuters a diet of show business listings, celebrity gossip, sharp-edged editorials and lengthy feature articles, as well as being the afternoon newspaper read by Britain’s political elite.

The sale is following a furious press war pitting The Standard against newspapers given free to commuters.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/business/media/22london.html?th&emc=th

[midnight]

1. Sounds like we are going to see some real dirt get dished.