The flagship of the House is its newspaper Kommersant, one of Russia's leading business publications, which was initially published in 1909 before being closed down following the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917.

It did not resume publication until 1989 as the first privately-owned newspaper in Russia when the Soviet Union began to collapse.

It is the second company that Usmanov, 57, owns that has committed to Sochi 2014.

He is also the co-owner of MegaFon, Russia's second-largest mobile telephone operator, who were the first company to become a Tier One sponsor of the Games three years ago.

Usmanov, the world's 100th richest man with a fortune estimated at Forbes at $19.9 billion and who is also the President of the International Fencing Federation (FIE), brought the newspaper in 2006.

It is part of a massive portfolio of investments that also includes a 25 per cent share in Arsenal and a 32 per cent in Digital Sky Technologies, who in 2009 paid $200 million (£124 million) for a 1.96% stake in social networking website Facebook.

Usmanov (pictured) is also the majority shareholder of Metalloinvest, a Russian industrial conglomerate, which he founded to manage Gazprom's metals interests.

As a supplier, the Kommerstant will have the right to use the Olympic and Paralympic symbols, as well as those of the Russian Olympic and Paralympic Committees, along with the right to be associated with the Sochi 2014 Games in its advertising and public information campaigns.

The agreement features a number of advertorial projects, special editions, Kommersant Publishing House's participation in Olympic and Paralympic educational materials planning, as well as traditional newspapers for the Olympic and Paralympic Families being handed out in the Olympic and Paralympic Villages and on the Olympic Park site during the Games.

A number of common special editions on the Cultural Olympiad, transport and ticketing programmes will also be published as part of the deal.

Kommersant join Aeroflot, MegaFon, Rostelekom, Rosneft, Sberbank, Volkswagen Group Rus and Bosco Sport, who are Tier One partners, and Ingosstrakh, an official supplier, in linking themselves with Sochi 2014.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]