Boris Johnson under pressure after revelations about his relationship with Evgeni Lebedev

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaving 10 Downing Street on March 9, 2022. AP - Matt Dunham

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing "serious questions" over the appointment of a Russian media tycoon as Lord, after news emerged in the media on Sunday. 

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The Russian invasion of Ukraine has reignited questions around the nomination as Lord for life of Evgeni Lebedev, son of Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev, to the upper house of the British Parliament in 2020. On Sunday, the British newspaper

that outside intelligence two years ago raised concerns about such an appointment but Boris Johnson ignored their queries.

“ 

 said British opposition leader Keir Starmer on Sky News on Sunday.

British intelligence has been concerned about the influence of Yevgueni Lebedev for almost 10 years, perceived as an agent of the Kremlin since the son of an FSB spy.

As early as 2013, the boss of MI6 refused to receive this owner of British newspapers alongside other press editors during professional lunches, reports our correspondent in London,

.

Boris Johnson, at the time mayor of London and already close to Lebedev, could not have been unaware according to the

 He took part in parties, receptions, vacations with the Russian businessman. 

Opposition calls for investigation

With these revelations, it is the defense of the Prime Minister who collapses, he who claims to have fallen from the clouds when he learned that he had been left to frequent a potential threat to national security.

This Sunday, the Minister for Leveling Up, Michael Gove recalled that if the head of government had exceeded intelligence recommendations, it was above all not to put all Russians in the same basket.

"

," he said.

The opposition, Labor and Liberal Democrats, renews its calls for the opening of an investigation into the appointment of Yevgueni Lebedev to the House of Lords. 

►Also read: Boris Johnson in the hot seat: "He potentially becomes the handicap of the Conservative Party"

In a column on Friday in his free daily, Evgeny Lebedev said he was " 

 " to be a British citizen, believing that it was "

 ".

“ 

,” he wrote, continuing that while his father was in the distant past a KGB intelligence agent, he was not. is "

".

This is evidenced by the coverage of the Russian invasion by his newspaper, which last week called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops.

(

AFP)

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