Labour has called on Westminster Conservatives to give nearly £120,000 which the two Westminster Conservatives have received from four Putin-linked sources to charity.
Four Putin-linked sources have given the two Westminster Conservative Associations £118,491 over recent years:
- Cities of London and Westminster Conservative Association (CLWCA) has received £76,764 since 2007
- Westminster North Conservative Association (WNCA) has received £41,727 since 2009
The four Putin-linked donors are:
Lubov Chernukhin – A former banker who is married to Putin’s former Finance Minister. Her donations total £18,504:
£1,800 to CLWCA on 19 January 2007 (as Lubov Galubeva), £3,492 to CLWCA on 8 March 2007, £1,750 to CLWCA on 2 August 2012, £1,900 to CLWCA on 7 June 2013, £1,850 to WNCA on 7 June 2013, £1,900 to CLWCA on 20 May 2014, £2,000 to CLWCA on 24 April 2015, £3,812 to CLWCA on 1 April 2016
Lev Mikheev – An investment banker who has links to the Kremlin. His donations total £32,500:
£20,000 to WNCA on 13 May 2010; £10,000 to WNCA on 39 May 2014; £1,500 to WNCA on 21 April 2015, £1,000 to WNCA on 1 December 2015
George Piskov – A banker who launched a money-transfer service across Russia. His donations total £7,377:
£4,200 to WNCA on 4 September 2009, £1,000 to WNCA on 16 October 2009, £2,177 to WNCA on 12 November 2009
Alexander Temerko – Who forged a career at the top of the Russian arms industry and had connections at the highest levels of the Kremlin. His donations, including those of one of his companies, total £60,110:
£16,000 to CLWCA on 16 May 2013, £10,000 to CLWCA on 7 January 2014, £14,560 to CLWCA on 20 June 2015, £1,500 to CLWCA on 13 November 2015, £3,050 to CLWCA on 18 November 2016
Aquind Ltd (company founded by Alexander Temerko): £5,000 to CLWCA on 13 June 2019, £5,000 to CLWCA on 4 December 2020, £5,000 to CLWCA on 25 May 2021
Councillor David Boothroyd, Labour’s Finance spokesperson, said:
“Russia is a noble nation, but it has a tyrant as President. Britain is a key link for his financier friends. We need a proper register of foreign-owned property to know how much wealth they have hidden in Westminster’s property market.”
“I think people in Westminster might be shocked to know that Putin-linked businesses have funded the Conservative Party running their council to the tune of nearly £120,000 in recent years. We call on Westminster Conservatives to return this money – not to the donors, but to charities supporting people in Ukraine.”
Lubov Chernukhin
According to the Guardian:
“Chernukhin, a former banker married to the former Russian oligarch Vladimir Chernukhin, reportedly donates enough to the Tories to qualify for membership of a small group of ultra-rich donors who meet monthly with Johnson and his chancellor, Rishi Sunak.”
George Piskov
The Mail Online describes Piskov and Mikheev as follows:
“A wealthy Russian banker who made a fortune during the so-called ‘wild west years’ following the collapse of communism, Piskov made billions from launching a money transfer service across his vast homeland. He formed a bank called Uniastrum, which became one of the fastest-growing businesses in Russia during these boom years, but ran into trouble during the global financial crash of 2007/08.
As well as attending Tory Party fundraisers, he has also made a £10,000 donation direct to party headquarters in 2012.
As well as a string of directorships in Russia, which he visits regularly on business, he is also the official representative of all Russian banks in London, making him one of the most powerful financial figures here.”
Lev Mikheev
“This Russian-born investment banker has donated almost £100,000 to the Tories since moving to the UK. He is a billionaire financier with offices in London and next door to the Kremlin.
Much of his fortune came through a hedge fund called Salute Capital Management, named after the former Soviet Union’s space exploration programme Salyut, and he is reputed to have invested £1 billion a year on behalf of the new wave of wealthy clients to emerge under Putin’s rule.”
Alexander Temerko
According to Reuters:
“Temerko rose to prominence in the Russia arms industry in the 1990s, in the wild days that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Three former Russian business partners, including Nevzlin, as well as a former Russian intelligence officer, said Temerko grew close with the Russian security services. Those ties were forged in the 1990s, these people said, when Temerko served as head of a state committee for the military and later as head of a strategic Russian state arms company known as Russkoye Oruzhie, or Russian Weapons.”
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/britain-eu-johnson-russian/