Smash hit

“No, no,” he says gently. “I don’t think I am under threat like that.” Anyway that’s not what he wants to talk about.

Lebedev is here to publicise his June ball for the Raisa Gorbachev Foundation — a high-society London event that aims to raise millions for Russian cancer charities.

Last year Sir Elton John and the Scissor Sisters played to celebrities, happy to be invited for free. Corporate guests buy tickets.

In the end, 2007’s lavish event, staged at Hampton Court, was whispered to have raised rather less than it cost. Perish the thought that we Brits might be taking this well-intentioned Russian for a ride.

Lebedev doesn’t bristle. “No, it did raise money. We did quite well. It helped us finish a children’s hospital in St Petersburg.”

This year, on June 7, he has Hugh Grant doing something, Russian ice skaters dancing, and a famous American soul diva singing — no name yet, still subject to confirmation. An auction will end the evening.

But isn’t it odd asking us for money? Russia has enough rich men now who could fund new hospitals while barely denting their bank balances.

Lebedev stares out of the Connaught Bar’s window. “Roman Abramovich has just finished a private hospital outside Moscow that is one of the most expensive in the world. But if I was a rich Russian I would go to . . .” He then lists Europe’s best clinics in France, Switzerland and Austria. His point is that Russia doesn’t need more luxury for the few, it needs facilities for the masses, and it’s not getting them.

But, he continues, you have to understand how the Russian state works. Only by raising publicity in the West can you force its bureaucracy to crank into gear.

That’s why he pays for the London party — it’s not just about the fundraising, it’s the fact that western media follow up how the money is spent. This means that the hospital actually gets built, rather than bogged down in bureaucratic delay.

“You can’t do these things without approval, and getting Kevin Spacey and Elton John involved hits the target,” he explains. “And this time we are doing the event with the Marie Curie Foundation as well, so we are fundraising for both countries.”

He talks fast, eyes averted, his square face inscrutable. At times his accent makes his English hard to decipher, too.