According to the up to 30 men with automatic weapons and wearing masks surrounded and entered the building that houses Lebedev’s National Reserve Bank. The building also houses an unrelated company, the Rosnano technology corporation.
The men held the billionaire publisher of Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, who is a former KGB operative, inside the building while they searched for documents.
The oligarch's spokesman Artyom Artyomov was also held and told the paper "They are from the city police. They are armed with guns and have masks. We don't know what they want."
It is not clear if Lebedev has already left the building or whether the raid was in conjunction with his business interests, or whether any files were removed, but police have now left the premises, according to the report.
The paper also quoted City police spokesman Viktor Biryukov who had confirmed that the raid on the premises was "in the framework of an ongoing criminal investigation".
Other media outlets have carried somewhat conflicting reports. In an early report while .
claimed a spokesman for the National Reserve Bank told it police were seizing documents from the bank, in which Lebedev's National Reserve Corporation owns a 78% stake.
It also quoted Rosnano spokesman Andrei Trapeznikov as saying the checks took place in "other organizations" located in the building and had nothing to do with the hi-tech corporation.
It is not uncommon for Russian authorities to search business premises, nor to adopt a heavy-handed approach when conducting raids.
Lebedev bought the Evening Standard in and The Independent in .
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