Elena perminova alexander lebedev biography
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Model wife of billionaire newspaper baron Alexander Lebedev fights to save her husband from Russian jail
By WILL STEWART FOR MAILONLINE
Published: | Updated:
Russian model and fashion icon Elena Perminova is a familiar fixture in the world of haute couture. But today, the striking Siberian-born 26-year-old wears a deep frown.
Elena has unquestionably done well out of the rough-and-ready capitalism of post-Soviet Moscow and yet now she faces the grave threat that the father of her two young sons could be thrown into jail for up to five years.
Even more chilling is the fact that her husband Alexander Lebedev – former KGB spy, billionaire businessman, funder of several British newspapers including the Independent and the London Evening Standard, and anti-corruption campaigner – may be facing a Russian mafia contract on his life after irritating criminal warlords with his fight against gambling.
Happy family: Alexander Lebedev with Elena Perminova with sons Nikita, three and Egor, one
Indeed, Mr Lebedev’s eldest son Evgeny, 32, divulged last week that his father fears being sent to prison could effectively mean a death sentence. ‘It’s an easy place for somebody to be taken out. It’s very concerning,’ he said.
If Mr Lebedev is imprisoned (or worse) for his part in a
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A Cinderella Story
Strolling to and from the fashion shows in Paris's Tuileries Garden, the gaggle of Russian style stars is impossible to miss. They are the girls with the delicate gaits, fierce cheekbones, and high-fashion clothing so newly minted, it practically sizzles on their skin. Whether the wives of billionaire businessmen, the offspring of oligarchs, or politically connected czarinas, they are keeping couture afloat as the new haute clientele. (Some of Karl Lagerfeld's more extravagant Russian clients will buy 35 Chanel ensembles in just one season.) As fearless as they are chic, these It girls look like lab-made female specimens dreamed up by designers in their sleep, and street-style photographers, with a nose for what's next, tend to swarm around them like flies.
At the center of the paparazzi frenzy is 26-year-old Elena Perminova. The longtime companion of Russian oligarch and billionaire media magnate Alexander Lebedev (whom she met under circumstances so unreal, they seem fit for rags-to-riches folklore) and mother of the couple's two small children, Perminova is often photographed with high-profile pal Miroslava Duma and clad in something that appeared on Chanel's, Mary Katrantzou's, or Giambattista Valli's runway just hours before—and the photo goes v
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