Evgeny Lebedev, Britain's youngest newspaper proprietor

Evgeny Lebedev saunters into his entrance hall-cum-art gallery dressed impeccably in matching greys and blacks, and greets me while standing next to blocky white marble figures by Antony Gormley. The Russian-born 34-year-old, a compact and chiselled figure himself with a groomed beard of startling density, is a natty dresser. It's something he takes pride in. "Stud House was named after me," he says, offering a handshake.

Britain's youngest newspaper proprietor has become an expert in British irony. Stud House is set in the parkland of Hampton Court and was built in the early 18th century to house the Master of the Horse, a post traditionally held by an aristocratic royal favourite. For the past two years, Lebedev has been restoring it to something like its former glory, laying lush vegetation over a former owner's tennis courts and tarmac. "I wanted it to be the most beautiful country house in London again," he says.

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Lebedev used to be best-known for being the son of Alexander, the KGB officer-turned-billionaire businessman. That and his social circle - he is good friends with Jefferson Hack, co-founder of "hipster bible" Dazed & Confused, and godfather to Elton John's eldest son, Zachary. British tabloids have also "romantically linked" him with many women. Had he stuck to the playboy lifestyle, he might have blended in with many of his wealthy compatriots living in the capital. But he jumped from the gossip pages to the purchase of two venerable British newspapers - both for £1 each but still, he says, "considering the state of print media, it was a big risk".

The Evening Standard's circulation had dropped below 150,000 and the paper was losing money. Today it is distributed for free to about a million Londoners, and two years ago began turning a profit. The Independent was losing more than £20m a year when Lebedev bought it in 2010 - but having launched a successful cheaper sister title, i, which offers bite-size news, today he can claim combined daily sales of almost 400,000, which have reduced annual losses to under £5m. According to the Independent's editor, Amol Rajan, "The paper is on track to become profitable by 2017 - for the first time since 1988."

Still, I point out to Lebedev, none of his newspapers make him very much money. He smiles. "If you must know, the pub is my most profitable business."

He is referring to The Grapes, an old-fashioned English boozer in Limehouse, east London, which he co-owns with the actor Ian McKellen and director Sean Mathias. The pub has an illustrious history. Charles Dickens used to visit and called it a "tavern of dropsical appearance" in his 1865 novel Our Mutual Friend. More recently, Lebedev set up a meeting here between David Cameron and Stephen Fry to discuss gay rights in Russia before the Winter Olympics.

Does he socialise with the prime minister? "I like him and have respect for him but I only see him every so often - not enough to call him a good friend." What about the Labour leader Ed Miliband? "I do, yes. I'm in a unique position as a newspaper proprietor in that I get to spend time with all the leaders. For the record, I have a good relationship with Nigel, too" - so good, in fact, that he controversially gave Farage, the Ukip leader, a weekly column in the Independent.

The housekeeper serves us coffee on a silver tray. Lebedev is keen to talk about his unexpected specialism and "biggest extravagance": horticulture. There is an abundance of different plants here in the conservatory, where we are sitting looking out on to perfectly manicured lawns and a fountain. The cool air carries the scent of pelargoniums. Lebedev picks a leaf from the plant and says, "Smell this, it's lemony," offering me to sniff not the plant but, disconcertingly, his fingers. I oblige: his house, his rules.

"Smell is one of the most powerful things in the world. Whenever I smell lilac, for example, it takes me back to my childhood in Russia. When I was seven, eight, we used to visit the countryside and lilac was everywhere. For me, scent is the closest thing we have to a time machine."

Elsewhere, there is little sign of his native country within the walls of Stud House. But it's not really your archetypal English country pad, either. Lebedev becomes most animated when he talks about his art collection, seemingly taking pleasure in creating deliberately disconcerting juxtapositions. The extensive restoration to the property can almost go unnoticed, such is the abundance of audacious, provocative works, including many by the "young British artists" (YBAs). Following him through the property's many rooms, I spot a Tracey Emin neon work hanging in a corridor, the words "Go Fuck Yourself" lit up in pink. "Tracey sent me this because she was pissed off with how an article she had written for the Independent was edited. The neon was a brilliant response!"

Further evidence of his fondness for the YBAs can be found in his study. It's like an English gentlemen's club - all dark woods, panelled walls, animal-skin rugs, the odd bit of taxidermy - but then, above his desk hangs the Chapman brothers' "The Lady With the Kind Eyes", an oil on canvas showing a defaced portrait of a Victorian woman whose eyes have been blacked out.

Topping-off the somewhat haunting sense of unease in this wing of the house, the corridor outside is lined with cartoon erotica - hundreds of what Lebedev calls "Hogarth prints of sorts, the French version", for the Marquis de Sade's 1775 novel The 120 Days of Sodom.

The library has neoclassical bookcases, ornate gilded mirrors and green walls overpainted with a foliate design - all very English country house if it weren't for the two giant photographs hanging on either side of the fireplace. Taken from the Mexican artist Denise de la Rue's Matador series, one shows a bullfighter surrounded by martyrs and saints in a scene reminiscent of Baroque portrait paintings.

Lebedev lived at Stud House for five years before carrying out any work. "I wanted to get a proper feel for the place before I launched into it. It was liveable but the last time it underwent a renovation was in the 1970s. All the electrics and plumbing belonged in a museum."

The artist and interior designer Patrick Kinmonth was responsible for most of the redesign and renovation. "Evgeny likes my more theatrical side. He knew I could give him a bit of Upstairs, Downstairs," Kinmonth tells me, referring to the British period drama which depicts the lives of butlers and baronets. "The house had been patched up for 100 years. We had much more work to do to it than we expected. Now we have a historic house with a certain bohemian and artistic pedigree that it didn't have before."

Lebedev has lived in London for three-quarters of his life and now holds British citizenship. He grew up in Moscow, a stone's throw from the Kremlin, but no longer feels much of a connection with the city. "It's all about power and money. For me, London is the greatest city on earth. But I feel privileged that my character was formed between two cultures. When I see a Russian and Brit talking, I can sense they don't understand each other."

He concedes that Russia is "not quite at breaking point but at a very big crossroad. Whether the events of the past year may be a trigger for the people who are now in power to realise that it's time to change, or whether they will further tighten the screws and close the country off more - it's in the balance. If the country continues to move in the direction it's moving in, we face a terrifying prospect. But I don't rule out that the present governing elite still has the ability to slowly rebuild institutions of democracy".

So has he faith that Vladimir Putin can turn things around? "I'm an optimist. I would like to think so. But I don't dwell on it," he says. "I have a deep link with Russia but I'm very comfortable in England."

He is comfortable at Stud House, too: "It's quintessentially English. Well, quintessentially English with a twist."

John Sunyer is commissioning editor on FT Life & Arts

Photographs: Chris Winter

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