As Putin amasses 130,000 troops on the Ukrainian border. The West tries diplomatic efforts to avert a European War.
Liz Truss and Boriski Johnson are 2 of the so called diplomats visiting Kiev and Moscow, to questionable degrees of success.
Of course the Tories have been funded for years by the Russians. It is also in Russia's interests to have a weaker EU and a weaker Britain, hence their efforts to divide Britain from the EU with Boris Brexit.
Over the years there has been many articles about Boris playing Tennis for Russian rubels, attending parties where nothing was off the menu. He has wined and dined with some dubious Russian pedigrees too.
Here is a compilation of extracts. The full articles are linked as well.
It all paints a picture of whether Boris is acting in Britain's interests or his own. I draw my own conclusions..................................
.. Russian Aggression to Ukraine and Russian Rubles to Boriski. Boris Johnson Friend or Foe?
For far too long, our politicians have failed to appreciate the risks that come with Russian money
Boris Johnson was suspected of blocking publication of an inquiry into Russian interference in UK elections, because of the "embarrassing" links it reveals between the Russian secret service and donors to the Conservative party.
The National Crime Agency (NCA), Britain’s equivalent of the FBI, was both disappointed and angry “I’m already hearing suggestions that dealing with dirty Russian money isn’t as much of a priority, and it’s likely to be even less,” “For a while, I thought we could kick the Russian oligarchs out. Now we might be laying down the red carpet again.”
Johnson’s position on the annexation of Crimea by Russia 2014 began to align more closely with the Kremlin. “If you want an example of EU foreign policy-making on the hoof, and the EU’s pretensions to running a defence policy that have caused real trouble, then look at what has happened in Ukraine,” he said.
The first duty of any government is to keep our country safe.
The UK’s Russia report, published by the Intelligence and Security Committee July 2020, and the way ministers responded to it, made clear that this Conservative government is failing badly in that duty.
The government’s own Integrated Review, called Russia an “active threat”. The comments, made in the biggest review of foreign and defence policy since the end of the Cold War, remind us of just how pressing this issue is.
The threat to the UK from Vladimir Putin’s Russia is beyond doubt. The Russia report, when it was eventually released July 2020 by prime minister Boris Johnson – after months of delay and a futile attempt to put the hapless former transport secretary, Chris Grayling, in charge of the committee – put it best.
According to the report, there is substantial evidence that Russian interference in British politics is commonplace
UK government failed to investigate evidence of successful interference in democratic processes
‘Credible open-source commentary’ suggesting Russia sought to influence Scottish independence referendum
Russian influence in the UK is ‘the new normal’
Links between Russian elite and UK politics
Intelligence community ‘took its eye off the ball’ on Russia
UK’s paper-and-pencil voting system makes direct interference harder
Defending UK’s democratic processes is a ‘hot potato’
Errors in Salisbury poisoning and weapons watchdog hack do not diminish Moscow threat
New legislation needed to replace outdated spy laws.
The report describes the United Kingdom as one of Russia's "top targets" and said it is "seen as central to the Western anti-Russian lobby".
The committee found no evidence that Russian interference had affected the Brexit referendum, since the government had not authorised any investigation into that matter, due to the fact that any such attempt was not within the purview of British intelligence services; any such actions by the security services themselves could be seen as interference, itself undermining democracy. However, the report did discover some evidence of co-ordinated interference in online narratives following the 2014 Scottish independence referendum in efforts to spread uncertainty over the result.
Boris Johnson rejected calls for an investigation into allegations of Russian interference in the EU referendum amid claims that the government “took its eye off the ball”.
The intelligence and security committee said the government had failed to protect the EU referendum and recommended that the intelligence agencies should conduct a retrospective investigation.
It said that Downing Street only “belatedly realised the level of threat” posed by Russia after the “hack and leak” of thousands of emails during the US presidential election in 2016.
Johnson had previously been pictured meeting with figures with suspected links to the Russian security services.
Boris Johnson was photographed with a suspected Russian spy who called him a 'good friend'.
One of the men, Sergei Nalobin, was a key figure in establishing links between Russia and Johnson's Conservative party, and described Johnson as a "good friend."
Another figure, Joseph Mifsud, who was pictured with Johnson, was named in the FBI's Russian Trump investigation.
The Electoral Commission revealed that the single largest donation during this campaign was from the wife of a former Russian minister and ally of Putin.
Johnson's party has reportedly accepted donations from 9 Russian figures with links to the Russian government.
One of Johnson's closest media relationships is with the editor of the Evening Standard and Independent Evgeny Lebedev, whose father Alexander is a former KGB agent.
Evgeny has repeatedly hosted Johnson for parties at his castle in Perugia Italy, while Johnson was mayor of London and Foreign Secretary.
Johnson’s unlikely friendships in modern British politics, culminated in Johnson’s contentious decision to make Lebedev a member of the House of Lords. Lord of Hampton and Siberia.
Concerns were reportedly raised within Theresa May's government about Johnson's decision to attend the events in Italy, at which other guests have claimed that "nothing is off the menu from the moment you are greeted to the moment you leave."
Fears were also raised that Johnson's private life may make him a "security risk" due to the possibility he could be blackmailed.
"There's the danger that people leak what they have over him or blackmail him with it," a Cabinet minister in Theresa May's government told the Sunday Times .
Lubov Chernukhin, who was the largest single donor to the campaign, is the wife of the Russian oligarch Vladimir Chernukhin. She donated £200,000 to the Conservative campaign.
Chernukhin, who is resident in the UK, has previously paid £160,000 for a tennis match with Johnson and £135,000 for a night out with former Prime Minister Theresa May
Tory coffers have been swelled by £2 million from donors with Russian links since Boris Johnson became PM - and a quarter of ministers attending cabinet have benefited from cash
Donations total £74m since Mr Johnson took office in 2019.
That compares to £38m in the previous two years, under Theresa May, Electoral Commission figures show.
Ministers whose offices or constituencies benefited include Deputy PM Dominic Raab, Chancellor Rishi Sunak and five other MPs who attend Cabinet.
Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee made 21 recommendations to tackle Russian interference in British democracy. For years, oligarchs were able to “buy” citizenship in exchange for a £2million investment in UK bonds or shares through a bank. The report said cash was invested in “PR firms, charities, political interests, academia and cultural institutions” – all of whom were “willing beneficiaries of Russian money”.
Alexander Viktorovich Temerko is a Soviet-born British businessman in the energy sector, currently a director of the British company Aquind Limited. Alexander Temerko and his firm Aquind Energy made a string of donations. Some £10,000 went to Treasury Secretary Simon Clarke’s Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency. Aquind is seeking permission to build a huge energy interconnector under the English Channel and in 2012 it got a £4.5m government grant.
In 2015 Mr Sunak also saw a £6,000 donation to his Richmond, Yorks, constituency from Mr Temerko, a former aide to ex-Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
COP26 president Alok Sharma accepted £10,000 in donations to his constituency association from Aquind in 2019, plus £15,000 from Mr Temerko’s old venture Offshore Group Newcastle (OGN), in 2014.
Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis received a donation of £10,000 from banker Ms Lubov Chernukhin, the Tories’ biggest individual donor.
Dominic Raab declared a £25,000 donation to his Esher and Walton constituency from Dmitry Leus – whose £500,000 gift to royal charities triggered a row over claims foreigners could “buy” residency.
Temerko voiced strong support for Boris Johnson’s bid to lead Britain out of the EU, praised senior Russian intelligence officials and spoken about his past work with the Kremlin.
For almost a decade, Alexander Temerko, who forged a career at the top of the Russian arms industry and had connections at the highest levels of the Kremlin, has been an influential figure in British politics. He’s one of the Conservative Party’s major donors. Friend or Foe? Do you accept rubels from friends or foes, do you associate with friends or foes, do you give them peerages? Johnson as Foreign Secretary December 2017 Moscow: "I would just make one point very fervently. I am a Russophile, a committed Russophile. I took the trouble before becoming Foreign Secretary to station my ancestors around the world. I have them in Germany, in France, all over the place, America, and of course here in Moscow as well. I am certain that I am the first that the Foreign Secretary in the history of my office to be called Boris – probably the last for some time, I would think. Be in no doubt that I want to see an improvement in the relations between our peoples."
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