Russia faces a new drama involving the authorities and a billionaire accused of a criminal offence who claims, in his defence, to be the victim of a political vendetta.
The star of the show this time is Alexander Lebedev, a former KGB agent turned businessman and Kremlin critic, who owns British newspapers headed by The Independent and the London Evening Standard, as well as Novaya Gazeta, an opposition-minded Russian newspaper that focuses on official corruption.
The alleged offence is far more colourful than the usual tax fraud charges levelled against oligarchs. Lebedev is charged with hooliganism over a television punch-up that was watched by millions (see after the break). This one could run and run.
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