An outspoken Kremlin critic could face the loss of a 25 per cent stake in Aeroflot, Russia’s national airline, if his bank is refused a bail-out loan by the Russian state.

Aleksander Lebedev, chairman of Russia’s National Reserve Bank, confirmed on Friday that he was in talks with VEB, the Russian state bank, for a $130m loan to stave off a margin call on a stake of about 25 per cent of Russia’s national airline, which fell due last night.