Russian-British businessman Lebedev pleads with Putin to end Ukraine war

LONDON (Reuters) – Evgeny Lebedev, the ennobled British-Russian media boss and son of a former KGB spy, on Monday pleaded with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.

Lebedev, the son of Alexander Lebedev, used a letter in the Evening Standard London newspaper he owns to call for Putin to use peace negotiations to stop the conflict in Ukraine.

“As Europe stands on the brink of another world war, and the world on the brink of a possible nuclear disaster, I plead with you to use today’s negotiations to bring this terrible conflict in Ukraine to an end,” Lebedev wrote.

“As a Russian citizen I plead with you to stop Russians killing their Ukrainian brothers and sisters. As a British citizen I ask you to save Europe from war.”

Lebedev was made a lifelong member of Britain’s upper house of parliament in July 2020 with the title Baron Lebedev of Hampton in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and of Siberia in the Russian Federation

He also owns the Independent daily online British newspaper.

Lebedev’s father once worked as a spy at the Soviet embassy in London but then built a fortune by trading securities in the chaos that followed the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

(Reporting by William James; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)