Ex-K.G.B. agent buying London tabloid

28 January 2009 | 8:53 - By Stefano Boscutti

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.

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Some British newspapers took to calling him the spy who came in for the gold. Now Aleksandr Y. Lebedev is buying a majority stake in one of those papers - The Evening Standard.  So he can now say pretty much whatever he wants to about himself.  A man who once spied on Britain for the Kremlin is returning as a press baron to the political elite, adding one more strand to the weave of wealth binding Russian tycoons to London. Oh, feel the irony.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/business/media/22london.html

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About this Blog

New New Media looks at how our mediascape is exploding to bits. How the latest technology and the internet are changing the way we live, work and play. How the latest media is shaping us all.

Stefano Boscutti is an executive creative director and strategist. He's like a better looking version of Todd Sampson. He also has an abiding faith that stories and wordplay (and not powerpoint presentations) will change the world.

 
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