Kremlin intrigue

Can buisness and enterprise survive in the new Russia?

In an interview broadcast on HARDtalk on 28 November Gavin Esler talks to the Moscow mayoral candidate Alexander Lebedev about Russia's relationship with the its oligarchs.

Alexander Lebedev is reputedly a billionaire and he wants to be Mayor of Moscow. Is he concerned about coming under pressure because of his wealth?

"I do not see any signs of political campaigning against big business, he says."

With respect to Mr Khodorkovsky's case, he says that people will have to wait until the courts rule. He says "It's not 1937 we have to have respect for what we have built in the last 15 years."

Mr Khodorkosvky's arrest was dramatic. Several commandos stormed Mr Khodorkovsky's aircraft during a stopover, while the businessman toured Siberia.

Mr Lebedev acknowledges that there were certain aspects of the arrest which sounded "like harassment".

Thirty camouflaged men recently forced staff to leave the Moscow offices of the Open Society Institute founded by the US billionaire George Soros.

Mr Soros warned that Russia "may now be entering a phase of state capitalism, where all the owners of capital realise that they are dependent on the state".

Hoever, Mr Lebedev dismissed Mr Soros' concerns: "if you speak about the Russian economy, it has been moving ahead."

HARDtalk can be seen on BBC World at 04:30 GMT, 11:30 GMT, 15:30 GMT, 19:30 GMT and 00:30 GMT

It can also be seen on BBC News 24 at 04:30 and 23:30