Lebedev Snr quits role at Independent after sanctions
ALEXANDER LEBEDEV has cut ties with the Independent after the former KGB agent was sanctioned in Canada.
The billionaire was hit with an asset freeze and visa ban last Friday over his links to the Kremlin while Vladimir Putin continues his war on Ukraine.
Mr Lebedev, who bought The Independent and Evening Standard newspapers in 2010 before shifting ownership to Evgeny (now Lord) Lebedev, his son, resigned from his position as a director of Independent Print Limited on Sunday, according to company filings.
The company previously provided digital publishing services to The Independent and Evening Standard, according to statements filed in September 2020 with Companies House.
His resignation will intensify pressure on Boris Johnson to release more information about why he handed a peerage to his friend Lord Lebedev, and to answer questions about whether the security services raised concerns about the honour with No10.
Lord Lebedev, who has dual Russian and British nationality, has denied posing a security risk and claimed his philanthropic work was the reason for his appointment to the House of Lords. His father, Alexander, served at the Soviet Embassy in London in the 1980s.
It is understood that Independent Print has continued to operate as a company to handle the winding down of The Independent and The Independent on Sunday newspapers, which ceased publication in March 2016.
The Independent said: “Alexander Lebedev has no role, commercial or otherwise, in the running of either the Independent or the