Russian billionaires in TV punch-up

A Russian tycoon punched a fellow billionaire on a television panel show after a discussion on the financial crisis degenerated into petty name-calling.

Alexander Lebedev, a former KGB operative and owner of two major newspapers in Britain, wrote on his blog that property developer Sergei Polonsky had earned the clobbering by behaving abusively throughout the recording of the programme.

In a preview clip posted on the NTV channel’s website before the show airing this evening, Mr Polonsky is seen saying that he sometimes felt like “bashing (Lebedev) in the face”, prompting the newspaper owner to punch him.