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Evgeny Lebedev and Boris Johnson in 2009: did the Prime Minister ignore warnings from the secret service?
Photo: Dave M. Benett / Getty Images
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson has come under pressure for his close ties to Russian-born media mogul Evgeny Lebedev.
Johnson must answer "serious questions" about the fact that he has appointed Lebedev baron and thus given him a seat in the upper house, opposition leader Keir Starmer said on Sky News on Sunday.
According to the Sunday Times, Johnson had ignored warnings from the secret service MI6 in the context of conferring a peerage on Lebedev.
Johnson is said to have been friends with Lebedev since he was Mayor of London.
According to the Sunday Times report, the prime minister ignored warnings from MI6 when he made Lebedev baron in 2020.
Starmer challenged Johnson to answer, "What did he know?
And has he defied the advice of the security authorities?”
Visit to Lebedev's Italian villa
Among other things, Johnson's visit to Lebedev's Italian villa in April 2018 is currently arousing criticism. At the time, Johnson was Foreign Secretary.
Lebedev also attended an important meeting of Tory politicians two years earlier, at which Johnson and his party colleague and current Cabinet Secretary Michael Gove discussed the Conservatives' position in the then-upcoming Brexit referendum.
Gove defended the Prime Minister against criticism on Sunday.
Lebedev made it clear in the newspaper he owned, the Evening Standard, that he "wholeheartedly rejects" the Ukraine war.
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Lebedev, who has both Russian and British citizenship, called on Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday to withdraw troops from Ukraine.
In the past, however, the media mogul has been less critical of the Kremlin.
He described the Syrian mission of the Russian army as correct.
He also publicly questioned the notion that Russian agents poisoned former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.
The British want to take in "tens of thousands" of refugees
Britain has imposed sanctions on seven Russian oligarchs over the Ukraine war.
Among others, the owner of the London football club Chelsea, Roman Abramovich, is affected.
On Sunday, the government in London also announced a new program to take in Ukrainian refugees.
Under the Home for Ukraine program, “tens of thousands” of Ukrainian refugees will be able to live in British homes for up to three years and also have access to the labor market, healthcare and education, Cabinet Secretary Gove said.
Old friends: Tory politicians Michael Gove (left) and Boris Johnson invited Evgeny Lebedev to party meetings before the Brexit referendum (photo from 2016)
Photo: REUTERS
Great Britain has recently come under international criticism for its comparatively restrictive policy towards Ukrainian refugees.
According to Gove, the authorities have so far issued 3,000 visas that refugees can use to move to their relatives in Great Britain.
mpz/AFP