like the financial times did in 2019, very unlikely. and by the way, it did take five years to get there, to the kremlin for the post midnight meeting. and when you did get there, what did you talk about? we talked about everything from the failed assassination of sergei skripal, which he dismissed, mr putin. asa as a story worth not much. to the relations with china, the intervention in syria and, notably, two stories that came out. one was when he declared under questioning the idea that liberalism, the idea, he said it was obsolete. he really felt the west was in decline, decadent, preoccupied by secondary questions of genderfluidity. and he also said that his risk appetite had gone up, basically,
the gilded lifestyles of the oligarch kids and their swanky homes around the world. but why is it only now that the mainstream press has put the oligarchs in the spotlight? what stopped them before? just some of the big questions for my guests today. they are paul caruana galizia, who s a journalist behind a new podcast for tortoise media called lebedev: lord of siberia. adam bienkov is political editor at the byline times. laura kayali is tech correspondent at politico. natalia antelava is a journalist and co founder of the news site coda story. and lionel barber was editor of the financial times from 2005 to 2020. he s now an investor in the new european. and, lionel, just if we start with you, the last time you were on the media show, you had just been to interview vladimir putin. what chance today, do you think, that a journalist could get an audience with that president? extremely limited, under 1%. maybe in seven weeks, if this is over, he might they might do
against the kremlin critic, alexei navalny. his prison sentence was extended to nine years after he was found guilty of fraud and contempt of court. he s widely regarded as the country s most prominent opposition figure. a very good wednesday morning to you. now on bbc news, it s time for the media show. hello. as governments round the world race to sanction associates of vladimir putin, the british media is turning its attention to the role russian oligarchs have played in public life. this week, an edition of panorama aired allegations about the source of roman abramovich s wealth. at the weekend, the sunday times reported that newspaper owner evgeny lebedev was made a peer despite the concerns of the security services. and the gossip sites are all over the gilded lifestyles of the oligarch kids and their swanky homes
in russia, alexander bought a large chunk of a paper with gorbachev. and he also bought a smaller tabloid. there is some irony in that that tabloid, in 2008, reported allegations that a putin was having an affair with a young gymnast, and in a few days, the tablet was shut down. it was in a couple of weeks of that that alexander and his son started the process of purchasing the newspapers in the uk. the then owner of the newspaper was looking to off load it because it was a losing enterprise. i think it s also significant that the deal was set up by another newspaper editor. they went on to edit the
but it also works the other way. so, in some of the correspondence, lebedev is pushing johnson to back a new arts festival, which would be held and organised by lebedev. and the purpose of this festival we understand, from the minutes that have been released as well, that is to transform russia s global perceptions in london. what s also interesting about it is that lebedev, in these minutes, it suggests that lebedev is going to reach out to the kremlin in order to secure funding for it. let me just read you what evgeny lebedev has said in response to all of this in the evening standard this week. he wrote, i am not a security risk to this country, which i love. my father, a long time ago, was a foreign intelligent agent of the kgb, but i m not some agent of russia. the editorial coverage in the evening standard and the independent, of which i m also a shareholder of russia and its activities over the time of my involvement in those titles makes that clear. and then he obviou