Independent News & Media group caught in a Russian riddle

This is Alexander Lebedev's last week as most favoured and protected buyer of the two Independents . In Russia, a myriad of rumours surround his bank, his (disposed of) Aeroflot shares, his oil ­company, his overseas interests. In Britain, the Evening Standard he owns boasts 1.37 ­million ­readers a day and ­increasing ­advertising rates to match them. In Cairo, an Egyptian ­billionaire pours a bucket of cold sand over reports that he is about to put up some of his own cash to help Lebedev buy the Indies . And, as Independent staff produce more editions from their Kensington atrium, they wait and they wonder. What on earth's going on? Is ­Lebedev serious? Why on earth should he want two more papers to turn free when their existing ad rates are little more than a tenth of what he'd need? And yet there's conviction as well as confusion somewhere in the mix. The Novaya Gazeta that Lebedev helps keep going in Moscow is a good, battling deed in a bad Putin world. And the Egyptian he may (or may not) have called is Samih Sawiris, backer of al-Masry al-Youm , another new and very good deed among Cairo's press. Judge Lebedev by the printer's ink that sticks to his fingers and it's surprising how shiny he can seem.