From generous donations to the big parties to the granting of titles of nobility, the influence of Russian money on British politics arouses harsh criticism after the invasion of Ukraine, reigniting calls to clean up the finances of political formations.
“The influence of Russian money is very important in politics and the British 'establishment' (...) and has increased in the last twenty years,” businessman and activist William Brodwder tells AFP.
A 2020 parliamentary report warned that “several members of the Russian elite close to Putin have been identified among donors to charitable and political organizations in the UK.”
The government Conservative Party, accused of leniency after having received almost two million pounds in donations from wealthy Russians according to the Labour opposition since Boris Johnson became prime minister in 2019, is singled out in particular.
Among these donors are Alexander Temerko, a former senior official in the Russian Defense Ministry and former leader of the oil giant Yukos, now critical of the Kremlin, and Lubov Shernukhin, whose husband served in the cabinet of Russian President Vladimir Putin before falling out of favor.
The British press describes the latter as the largest donor in the history of the Conservative Party. Since 2012, he has transferred more than 2 million pounds to training.
It also made headlines when he paid tens of thousands of pounds at an auction to play tennis with former Prime Minister David Cameron and Johnson himself, and attended an evening with former Prime Minister Theresa May.
Labour is also calling for the resignation of Conservative Party co-chairman Ben Elliot, in charge of fundraising and caused him to maintain links with wealthy Russians through a concierge company for the ultra-rich he co-founded, Quintessentially.
- Trigger -
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, much ink has flowed on the lifetime appointment in 2020 to the House of Lords - the upper house of the British parliament whose members are not elected but appointed by a noble title - of Evgeni Lebedev, Johnson's friend and son of Russian magnate and former spy Alexander Lebedev.
According to the Sunday Times, Johnson attended parties at a luxurious Lebedev property in Italy. However, he, like Temerko, has spoken out against the Russian offensive in Ukraine, and denies being on the Kremlin payroll.
The Conservatives claim that all their donations are registered, legal, and come from naturalized British citizens.
They accuse Labour of hypocrisy, saying they have received a million pounds in donations from people of Russian origin.
William Browder recalls that Labour MP Lord Peter Goldsmith had agreed, according to documents revealed by the press of the time, to work for a Russian affected by sanctions.
And conservative member of the House of Lords Greg Barker has just resigned as president of EN+, a mining giant whose biggest shareholder is Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
“It is remarkable that some members of the House of Lords have commercial interests linked to Russia or work directly for important Russian companies linked to the Kremlin,” the 2020 parliamentary report insists.
He also referred, but without demonstrating it, to the Russian influence in the vote in favor of Brexit, which was then defended by the now prime minister.
“Being a Russian donor doesn't mean you support Vladimir Putin, but in a country like Russia, where industry is linked to the government, you really can't become an oligarch without the support of the Kremlin,” says Daniel Weiner, director of the Brennan Center for Government and Electoral Studies at New York University.
More categorically, Browder believes that, since Russia is “a threat to national security,” previous donations by Russians should “be viewed with the utmost skepticism and there should be no more donations accepted by any party from anyone related to a foreign government.”
He believes that the war in Ukraine has acted as a trigger for the British government, which seems to have accelerated its measures against dirty money in politics and business.
“Putin has forced everyone to realize that this is a matter of survival for (our) country,” he says.
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