Alexander Lebedev, the Russian billionaire owner of The Independent and Evening Standard newspapers in Britain, could be jailed for five years after he was charged with "hooliganism motivated by political hatred" for punching a fellow guest on a television show.

Legal proceedings were brought against Mr Lebedev in Moscow, a day after the 52-year-old tycoon suggested President Vladimir Putin had endorsed an attempt to put him in prison in revenge for allegedly funding opposition groups.

Mr Lebedev's lawyer said the prosecution was a politically motivated attack designed to stop him dabbling in politics.

A trial raises the spectre of a second high-profile businessman and critic of Russia's ruling elite ending up behind bars, after the two guilty verdicts against the opposition-minded oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky in 2005 and 2010.