Cc @KiernanKathleen @Stephaniefishm4 @ThomasS4217 @brazencapital A few known names in this article on Russian donors to the Conservative Party.
Donations dried up in 2018 after the Skripals were poisoned in 2018, but have increased this year.
The U.K. has its own GOP problem.
Donations dried up in 2018 after the Skripals were poisoned in 2018, but have increased this year.
The U.K. has its own GOP problem.
Lubov Chernukhin has donated more than £450,000 to the Conservatives in the last year. He won a court case against Oleg Deripaska earlier this year in London.
Former Russian arms tycoon Alexander Temerko has gifted over £1.2 million to the Conservatives over the past seven years and was involved in a “Eurosceptic plot to oust May as Tory leader less than a year ago.”
“Temerko has presented himself as a critic of Brexit, but earlier this year, a Reuters investigation reported that the Russian magnate had privately argued pro-Brexit views, and had admitted being involved in an unsuccessful attempt led by members the ERG group to remove May.”
“Temerko is said to be particularly close to Boris Johnson. The two men sometimes call each other “Sasha”, the Russian diminutive for Alexander, which is Johnson’s real first name, and which his closest friends call him.”
“The Russian businessman told Reuters that when Johnson was Foreign Secretary, the pair would often “plot” late into the evening over a bottle of wine on the balcony of Johnson’s office at parliament.”
“Temerko, a regular attendee at the Conservative Leaders Group of major donors, has links to the highest levels of the Kremlin.”
This is where it gets more interesting, “Founded by former Ulster Unionist MP David Burnside, New Century Media was paid by the Kremlin to promote a “positive image” of Russia in the UK in 2013.”
“New Century Media, which has donated more than £177,000 to the Conservatives over the last decade, previously arranged for Vladimir Putin’s judo partner Vasily Shestakov to meet then-prime minister David Cameron at a major Tory fundraiser in 2013.”
“At the same event, Boris Johnson, then mayor of London, shared a table with Andrei Borodin, an exiled Russian banker who is wanted by the Kremlin to face charges of “aggravated swindling” over an alleged £220m bank fraud, which he denies and claims is politically driven.”
🔥 “Burnside has also represented Dmytro Firtash, a Ukrainian oligarch close to Putin, who is wanted by the FBI on bribery charges.”
“In May 2019, the Conservatives also received almost £20,000 from New Century Media (a lobbying company)”
Another prominent recent Tory donor, Lev Mikheev, a Moscow-born investment banker, who has donated £212,000 to the Tories since 2010, was described by the Daily Mail in 2014 as a “billionaire financier with offices in London and next door to the Kremlin in the Russian capital”.
“Records show that former Tory MP Rory Stewart received £10,000 from Mikheev for his unsuccessful Conservative leadership bid earlier this year.”
“A spokesperson for the Conservative Party said: “The Conservative Party does not accept foreign donations as they are illegal.
"The individuals you have mentioned have lived in Britain for many years and are British citizens, which gives them the democratic right to donate ...”
"The individuals you have mentioned have lived in Britain for many years and are British citizens, which gives them the democratic right to donate ...”
“... to a political party. We won’t take any lectures from the Labour party, whose leader sided with Putin over the Salisbury attacks” (true).
More info on the 2013 fundraiser with David Cameron comes from this Guardian article. theguardian.com/politics/2014/…
Vasily Shestakov was at the dinner sitting with Burnside. Shestakov was an MP at the Duma and is a close friend of Putin. They have written 2 books on judo together.
Shestakov was tasked with improving U.K. and Russian relationships.
Shestakov was tasked with improving U.K. and Russian relationships.
At the same event in 2012, Russian spy Sergei Nalobin was a guest according to the same article.
Going back to New Century Media, the company’s finance director is Alex Nekrassov who advised BP’s management on its investment in Russia and the subsequent sale of its 50 per cent stake in TNK-BP to Rosneft, as part of the Russia-state oil company’s US$55bn acquisition of TNK-BP
“... Alex is a founding member of CityUK’s Moscow International Financial Centre Joint Liaison Group and regularly advises clients on commercial market entry strategies, including for jurisdictions across Europe, Middle East and Africa.” (Taken from New Century Media’s website)
I wonder if Alex is related to this more infamous Alexander Nekrassov? 
