Viscount Rothermere rebuffed an approach for the Evening Standard from a Russian billionaire.

Alexander Lebedev, a former KGB officer, who made his fortune from banking, and ally of Mikhail Gorbachev, expressed interest in buying the loss-making London title from the peer’s company, Daily Mail and General Trust, last year. It is thought he did not put forward a formal offer to the DMGT board, and discussions have lapsed. Lord Rothermere, the controlling shareholder, was understood to be against a sale.

TheEvening Standardhas long struggled to make a profit, as Londoners increasingly turn away from evening titles, a trend exacerbated by the arrival of two evening freesheets, London Lite,published by DMGT, and thelondonpaper, published by News International, the parent company of The Times.

DMGT has not spelt out the amount it loses, but its annual deficit is less than £10 million.

National Reserve, Mr Lebedev’s bank, built up strategic stakes in companies, including Aeroflot, the airline, and Gazprom, the energy group. His fortune has been estimated by Forbes to be $3.1 billion (£2 billion), but it is likely to have dropped since this estimate, as Russian assets have been in broad decline.

However, he knows London well from his time as an agent in the UK in the 1980s, and he later sent his son Evgeny to be educated in Britain. Evgeny, said to be involved in the discussions, has been photographed with Geri Halliwell, the former Spice Girl, and is chairman of the Raisa Gorbachev Foundation, named after the late wife of the former Soviet leader.

Alexander Lebedev owned and closed the Moscow Korrespondent newspaper after it ran an untrue story about Vladimir Putin having an affair with an Olympic gymnast. Mr Lebedev now has a stake inNovaya Gazeta, whose investigative journalist, Anna Politkovskaya, was shot dead two years ago after criticising the Moscow regime. A substantial shareholder in Aeroflot, he threatened judicial action against Mikhail Fradkov, a former Russian Prime Minister, accusing him of procrastination on Aeroflot aircraft selection.

DMGT declined to comment yesterday, although insiders said that the Standard was not for sale.

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