Russian tycoon dubbed 'Putin's banker' and the partner of former BBC presenter Alexandra Tolstoy is placed on Interpol's 'red notice' wanted list Sergei Pugachev has been placed on Interpol's 'red notice' wanted listÂ Russian authorities are seeking him over an alleged large scale fraud But he claims allegations are politically motivated to seize his assets Also fighting to lift an order issued in London on his assets worth Â£1billion His partner Alexandra Tolstoy said it was hard surviving on Â£10,000 a week By Will Stewart In Moscow and Thomas Burrows for MailOnline Interpol has put tycoon Sergei Pugachev, the partner of former BBC television presenter Alexandra Tolstoy, on its wanted list.Â The 51-year-old Russian businessman was once so close to the Kremlin he was dubbed 'Putin's banker'.Â The Interpol 'red notice' - seeking his immediate arrest - has been issued by Russia after he fell out with his former associates.Â Uneasy truce: Russian tycoon Sergei Pugachev, once worth more than Â£1billion, has been put on Interpol's wanted list - he was once so close to the Kremlin he was dubbed 'Putin's banker'Â Wanted: Mr Pugachev is wanted by Russian authorities over alleged large scale fraud and embezzlement - but he says the claims are politically motivated after a campaign by Putin's circle to seize control of his assets Its official website says Mr Pugachev is 'wanted by the judicial authorities of Russia for prosecution'. Once worth around Â£1.3billion, he fled Russia after claiming hostile interests were trying to seize his businesses. A former business associate and hunting partner of the Queen's nephew Viscount Linley, Mr Pugachev was close to Putin, with a portfolio of interests across construction, banking and shipbuilding.Â Russia prosecutors say he deliberately switched money out of Russia to the West from Mezhprombank, the bank he founded, andÂ accuse him of 'large scale fraud and embezzlement'. Mr Pugachev claims the allegations are politically motivated after a campaign by Putin's circle to take control of his assets.Â Hard times: Mr Pugachev, is seeking to lift 'a draconian freezing order' issued in London on his assets which left his partner Ms Tolstoy (pictured) to suggest it was hard living on Â£10,000 a week In July, he had his assets worth Â£1billion frozen by a court in London as part of a dispute with a Russian liquidator, and was given a spending limit of Â£10,000 a week. His partner Ms Tolstoy responded by suggesting the sum was a struggle to live off. 'We are just surviving', she said in the wake of the ruling. Since his fall from grace in Russia, Mr Pugachev has been outspoken in his criticism of Putin.Â In an interview with the Financial Times last month he said: 'Today in Russia there is no private property. There are only serfs who belong to Putin. Now there is Putin and there are his lieutenants who carry out his orders - and all cash generated is put on the balance of Putin. The country is in a state of war. And therefore big business cannot live as before. It has to live under military rules. Elsewhere, he told Time magazine: 'If Putin says he wants to buy something, you cannot say that you do not want to sell. If he says "I want to buy something" then you say, "Thanks for saying you want to buy it, and not just taking it." Mr Pugachev is believed to live with Ms Tolstoy, a descendant of the novelist, in west London.Â Richard Elsen, reputation management expert at the specialist legal PR agency Byfield Consultancy, told MailOnline: 'Mr Pugachev faces a formidable challenge if he is to successfully argue that the case is politically motivated. Interpol is an unaccountable organisation that is slow to act and any appeal that he makes will take months, if not years, to reach a conclusion.Â 'In the meantime he will be unable to travel without fear of arrest and his business dealings will be severely damaged, as will his reputation particularly given the intense media interest in his case.'Â