The ex-spy, Alexander Lebedev, who loves us says he is buying into Britain for good

Alexander Lebedev makes a very reluctant oligarch. The new proprietor of the London Evening Standard says he has never owned a yacht or a football club, he doesn’t want a private jet or a marble palace.

Vladimir Putin? He says he often criticises him and is always risking his position by speaking out about journalists killed in Russia.

Mr Lebedev is the foreign agent who fell in love with this country when he was first sent to Britain in the 1980s, a Russian spy who adores watching James Bond (“my favourites are Sean Connery and Daniel Craig”.) This newspaper magnate’s first act on buying the Standard was to go back through the archives and see how it reported the Crimean War. He is a man more at ease discussing Shakespeare’s Coriolanus than Corfu. The only time he has met Gordon Brown was “for two minutes” in June.

Sitting in his office in Moscow, Mr Lebedev tells us that he bought the Standard as “an act of public service” rather than to make any money. In fact, he says he is prepared to lose £30 million on the enterprise, even though he is already $1 billion poorer as a result of the credit crunch.

In Russia, profit is not his main priority either, he insists. “All my businesses are socially responsible types, mainly agriculture, potatoes and airlines. I am not interested in making money, but in spending it in the proper way.”

As part owner of the Moscow paper Novaya Gazeta, he is one of the few wealthy Russians willing to speak out against the Government there. Although four of his investigative journalists have been killed, he doesn’t fear for his life.

“Putin backs me on some things. At least technically I have some protection,” he says.

The other Russian billionaires are not close friends. “It would be impolite to comment on them. We all come from different backgrounds. I am more keen on reading books, writing and travelling. I am not into yachts. I get sick on a boat. If I started buying luxurious planes and yachts I would feel ridiculous.”

One of his many historical heroes is the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. “I would like to think that I am following his example, rather than other emperors who were more profligate.”

Mr Lebedev seems an unlikely KGB officer. His grandfather was on its death list, his father was a professor of optical engineering “who could never get a senior administrative post because he wouldn’t join the Communist Party”. But his mother was a loyal supporter of the regime. “She believed in the ideals of the Communists, she would say you should never join the KGB because your views are not entirely Soviet and you will get yourself into trouble. But my father would say, if you go there we might at least have some chance of things starting to change.”

H is history as a lieutenant-colonel will, Mr Lebedev admits, make some Londoners nervous. “Normally, when you say KGB the parallel is with the gulag, with a notorious secret service, but there are lots of services under the KGB,” he says. “Being in foreign intelligence gave you a good education and enabled you to travel. My friend Mikhail Gorbachev allows me to say jokingly that he and the foreign intelligence share the credit for perestroika. We provided proper and truthful information from outside.”

When Mr Lebedev arrived in Britain, his first impressions were nothing to do with what he had been taught. “We were told that Britain was in decay, the private sector was detrimental to people’s welfare, there was no good healthcare or education,” he says.

But he fell in love with the country. “I loved Britain. The British have a sense of determination, a very good political system and press, an impartial judiciary and a culture of giving to charitable causes.”

It was through his charitable work with the Raisa Gorbachev Foundation that he met the Rothermeres, owners of the Mail group and at the time of the Evening Standard.

He spent a year talking in secret to Lord Rothermere about buying the loss-making London paper, eventually paying £1 for it last month. “The depression and online is hitting the printed press. I would be happy if the newspaper breaks even.” He would, he says, be “the happiest person” if he could buy The Independent as well. “I wish I could, but I must do the Evening Standardproperly. Once we have gone through the global crisis it might become much easier.”

Editorial policy is, he insists, up to journalists and he wouldn’t mind if his first appointment, Geordie Greig, who will edit the Standard, brought with him a “flavour” of Tatler (where he worked before). He is on a charm offensive, eager to praise traffic flow in London (“in Russia it is much worse”) and not prepared to criticise our pathetic reaction to a few inches of snow.

When we ask whether the paper will back Labour or the Conservatives at the next election, he replies: “I will support the people’s choice. I want it to be unbiased and involved in cultural life.” However, he admits to being a fan of David Cameron. “I think the Conservatives have improved a lot with him taking the driving seat.”

But before we can read anything into that he quickly says he is a fan of Gordon Brown. “When I met the Prime Minister he was a little bit perplexed because I was dressed in trainers without laces. Gordon Brown has a good sense of humour. He is coping well with the economic crisis. That is much more important than charisma.”

U nsurprisingly, perhaps, he is less forthcoming over the details of his undercover work but says: “The most frightening things in life are when something happens to someone you love – not to you. You lose friends, people die.”

The British should count their blessings: “I was born and lived in the Soviet Union when the country was experiencing the decay of communism. It had its restrictions, you couldn’t travel, if you wanted to follow a particular career you had to go to useless, time-consuming, idiotic party meetings. There were lots of good people and life was still normal with emotions, love, literature. But you were not the proper owner of your future life.”

From Britain’s past, he admires Oliver Cromwell, Winston Churchill – “I have been reading his diaries” and Margaret Thatcher – “she was a great politician and a great person”, he says. His political hero is Gorbachev but he is critical of Putin. “I think he is still in charge. Not letting political competition is wrong. It serves Putin badly.” Clearly, he would enjoy running the country himself – he once tried, unsuccessfully, to become mayor of Moscow. “If my potatoes stop growing, if my aircraft stop flying [I would love to take] office,” he says.

He worries, though, that Russians dislike the rich. “If you are on the Forbes list they hate you. I don’t drive a flashy car – I couldn’t tell a BMW from a Mercedes. Some people have to impress with all their acquisitions. One reminds me of King Lear: he buys all these boats and aeroplanes and properties but there is no happiness.”

His greatest luxury, he says, is art. “I recently bought an Antony Gormley sculpture, I took it to Perugia as a gift to the Italian people.” His properties are more like museums than homes. “I have a house near Hampton Court. It’s the house where Byron used to live so we are looking for his books and portraits. In Italy I bought a 13th-century castle which we are restoring as a boutique hotel and a cultural centre.”

Like many Russians, he says, it is his mother who keeps him grounded. “She is a very modest person. She criticises me on a regular basis. Just this morning she told me off for speaking out on TV against Putin.” Her home is still the small apartment where he grew up. “She doesn’t want a big house, she would never take a car instead of public transport. If you offer her more than a $100 bill there will be a serious lecture about throwing money around.”

Life and times

Born December 16, 1959
Forbes Rich List 358th-richest person in the world (estimated wealth $3.1 billion, according to the Forbes list)
Family His father was a professor who played water polo for Russia and his mother an English teacher. He is separated, with a son
Education Department of Economics at Moscow State Institute of International Relations
Career First Chief Directorate (Foreign Intelligence) of KGB. In London he had the diplomatic cover of an economics attaché Companies Bought the National Reserve Bank, which became one of the largest Russian banks. His company owns a third of Aeroflot and is part-owner of Novaya Gazeta, a newspaper in Moscow

Quick fire

Dostoevsky or Dickens? I read both - humanity does not have a lot of good writers and poets, so why should I have to choose?
Bolshoi or Royal Ballet? They are complementary cultures rather than mutually exclusive
James Bond or George Smiley? I have never read Ian Fleming but I love the Bond films, especially Sean Connery and Daniel Craig
Caviar or oysters? I don’t eat either, I would say it’s impolite
Elton John or Tchaikovsky? I like Elton very much. I wish I could sing Candle in the Wind with him in concert