Boris is an obvious Russian asset in Londongrad

Why is Boris Johnson allowed to remain in No 10, when we all know he is corrupted, he mislead his own people and handed the Russians Brexit Britain, he let his wealthy friends’ take advantage of the COVID pandemic and even sold Russians seats at the House of Lords? And this is only what we know he is guilty of.

Alexander Temerko spoke warmly about his “friend” Johnson, telling how the two men sometimes call each other “Sasha,” the Russian diminutive for Alexander, which is Johnson’s real first name. He described how, at the beginning of Johnson’s tenure as Foreign Secretary from 2016 to 2018, they would often “plot” late into the evening over a bottle of wine on the balcony of Johnson’s office at parliament in Westminster.

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.

These new insights into Temerko’s private thinking about Johnson, Brexit, and Russia come as the ruling Conservative Party is choosing its next leader, and as some British MPs are increasingly wary of possible Russian influence over British politics.

By Catherine Belton REUTERS INVESTIGATES July 19, 2019

BYLINE TIMES: Britain’s sanctions package is one of the weakest out of the whole NATO alliance. Fears about the Russian secret state’s penetration of Boris Johnson’s Government and party are being broadcast loudly from people close to President Joseph Biden’s White House.

Johnson’s tough rhetoric on the Kremlin’s threats against Ukraine and Liz Truss’s promise of new laws targeting Moscow sound good, but if you follow the money, the Prime Minister should face scrutiny for the roubles he chooses to keep company with. 

Six oligarchs who made their gold in the post-Soviet space and have been markedly opaque about Vladimir Putin have been markedly generous to the Conservative Party and/or Boris Johnson personally. They are, in alphabetical order: Vladimir Chernukhin and his wife Lubov, Viktor Fedetov, Alexander Lebedev and his son Lord Evgeny Lebedev, and Alexander Temerko. In plain English, they have all had snow on their boots. 

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on the oligarchs’ part, but in the current global crisis, the possibility of conflicts of interest for Britain’s ruling Conservative Party is of huge public concern.

Comprehensive account of the financial ties between Boris Johnson & a whole slew of Russian oligarchs by @johnsweeneyroar & taking in on @CatherineBelton’s revelations about Temerko & @jacopo_iacoboni’s discovery of Italian intelligence files on Lebedevhttps://t.co/f7AXlpaNCs

— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) March 2, 2022