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Russian tycoon Lebedev joins Putin's People's Front

© RIA Novosti . Sergey Pyatakov / Go to the mediabankRussian businessman Alexander Lebedev
Russian businessman Alexander Lebedev  - Sputnik International
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The Our Capital movement headed by Russian businessman Alexander Lebedev has joined Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's recently created People's Front, the movement said on Friday.

The Our Capital movement headed by Russian businessman Alexander Lebedev has joined Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's recently created People's Front, the movement said on Friday.

"At a meeting of the Our Capital movement, a decision was taken to join the People's Front, which was set up by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin," Our Capital said in a statement.

Lebedev, the owner of Britain's Independent and Evening Standard newspapers, had been seen as something of an opposition figure in Russia. The billionaire is co-owner with Mikhail Gorbachev of the liberal Novaya Gazeta paper, which is frequently critical of the Kremlin, and the offices of his National Reserve Bank were raided by masked police last November.

In announcing that he was signing up with Putin's new project, Lebedev said his movement has a lot of experience in anti-corruption investigation and may help in the fight against corruption.

"Our Capital was in tough opposition to the city's authorities when Yury Luzhkov was Moscow's mayor," Lebedev said. "Today we are ready not only to cooperate with the Moscow leadership but also to support the People's Front."

Long-serving Luzhkov, 74, was fired by President Dmitry Medvedev's on September 28 after weeks of speculation about his worsening relations with the Kremlin and his imminent resignation or dismissal. The new mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, took office October 21.

Putin first announced the creation of the All-Russia People's Front, whose name echoes popular communist movements, on May 6. It is intended to broaden the party's electoral base with "non-party people," including trade unions, NGOs, business associations and youth groups.

Some analysts see the front's creation as an attempt by Putin to boost his United Russia party's flagging popularity and head off a potentially damaging poor showing in parliamentary elections due in December.

MOSCOW, May 20 (RIA Novosti) 

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