Up to 30 armed men in masks this morning raided the Moscow bank controlled by Alexander Lebedev – the owner of The Independent and the London Evening Standard.
Artyom Artyomov, an aide to Lebedev, told Reuters that 20 or 30 people in masks and carrying automatic weapons surrounded the building that Lebedev was inside and it was not clear what they wanted.
After fearing that Lebedev had been arrested, Artyomov has since told the Guardian that the Russian billionaire was now “holding negotiations” with Russian police, who are carrying out a search of the building – which is believed to be home to several other businesses.
“He isn’t arrested. They (the police) have something they want to do in our bank. We have people with masks and guns here,” he told the Guardian.
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