The owner of National Reserve Corporation (NRC), Alexander Lebedev, asked the government to discuss the possibility of purchasing his shares in Aeroflot and Ilyushin Finance leasing company, Lenta.ru reports with reference to Vedomosti. It is stated in Lebedev’s letter.

The document is addressed to the Prime-minister of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev; Vice-premier, Dmitry Rogozin; and the Minister of Industry and Trade, Denis Manturov. Lebedev says in the letter that the possible acquisition of his shares was discussed and approved by Vladimir Putin two years ago.

The parties have agreed that NRC will sell its share to the airline and the shares of the leasing company – to the state-owned VEB. Lebedev promised to lease 44 Tu-204SM aircraft for his airline Red Wings using the funds realized by means of selling the shares. But the deal has fallen through. As explained by VEB and Ministry of Industry and Trade, the negotiations have not been broken off (in fact they are still underway).

The owner of NRC states in the letter that he is ready to sell Aeroflot’s security papers at the price of $1.3 per share (slightly lower than their market price). It is planned to realize a total of $217 million intended for leasing of aircraft for Red Wings. According to Lebedev, NRC has about 14,5% of Aeroflot’s shares.

Alexander Lebedev declared on August 3rd that he wants to shut down his business in Russia completely and sell all the assets. Lebedev explained that the reason for his intentions is the increasing pressure from Kremlin. "I am trying to scrap all of my projects totally. I just want to withdraw from the business", - Lebedev said. He said later that it is impossible to find a customer for his assets at the moment because of constant pressure of secret services.

Forbes assessed Lebedev’s wealth at $1,1 billion. Besides assets in financial and aviation areas, the banker owns shares in Novaya Gazeta and two British periodicals - Evening Standard and The Independent. Lebedev also has projects in the area of real estate and agriculture.