'Hard man of Russia' shows his softer side

In the former Soviet Union, he is known as the "hard man of Russia" – quite an epithet, given the competition.

Yesterday, the Uzbek oligarch Alisher Usmanov sought to present analtogether cuddlier side to the British public, with whom he has been attempting to spark a breathless romance.

Having bought a near-25 per cent stake in Arsenal Football Club – making him the club's largest and, by some distance, most unpopular shareholder – Mr Usmanov has moved into high end art, sponsoring a gargantuan exhibition of Turner works from the Tate Collection at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Art in Moscow. The 112 Turner works off to Russia comprise 40 oils, 70 watercolours and two engravings, and include a self-portrait that has not left Europe for 30 years, along with the popular 1845 painting of Norham Castle.

The barrel-chested billionaire looked quite the nervous social debutante at the Tate yesterday as he launched the collection flanked by his eastern European aides. He declined to speak in English, preferring the sanctuary of his translator, but even then uttered few words. "It's a special pleasure for me to participate in such a wonderful event, [working with] two great museums and their collections, which will benefit both cultures and countries," he said, via proxy.

"It is of special importance for me [to present] the greatest British artist, Turner, whose work has not been shown in Russia since 1975, and this exhibition consists of works that have not been to Russia before."

The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, was even lucky enough to receive an invitation from Usmanov to St Petersburg, to view another example of the Uzbek's artistic patronage – the entire art collection of the late Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, which he snapped up for £20m last September, days before it was to be sold at auction by Sotheby's. "Gordon Brown may view the collection when he visits!" said Usmanov's translator.

The exhibition, "J.M.W. Turner: Oils and Watercolours From Tate Britain" will open at Moscow's Pushkin Museum of Fine Art in nine days. It will be the biggest ever Turner show in Russia, with most of the works coming from the collection which Turner himself bequeathed to the nation at his death in 1851. Usmanov's support was crucial not only in covering the £1.5m transport costs but also in underwriting the insurance.

His move into the arts has been portrayed as a bid to rescue the faltering charm offensive he began in August 2007 with an ill-received purchase of a 14.58 per cent shareholding in another high temple of British culture, Arsenal. Fans at the time queried his background in acquiring a fortune worth billions, particularly six years he spent in jail in the 1980s. Usmanov has since said that he was politically persecuted. Protest marches were organised outside the ground. The club's board has subsequently agreed a "lock-down" agreement among major shareholders to prevent him taking over the club before April next year – with fellow board members getting first option on each others' shares in the club until 2012.