The son of a KGB officer makes his way to the British lords... Johnson is in trouble because of his rich Russian friend

LONDON

- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has found himself in an unenviable position, after a British newspaper revealed that he had ignored his country's intelligence warnings against granting British businessman of Russian origin Yevgeny Lebedev membership in the British House of Lords.

A report by the newspaper "The Sunday Times" revealed exciting details of the appointment of the Russian businessman to the House of Lords, under the auspices and support of Johnson, who has a strong friendship with Lebedev, ignoring reports issued in the year 2020 by the British domestic intelligence "MI". 5" (MI5), as well as the Office of Military Intelligence "MI6" (MI6).

Intelligence reports described the Russian businessman as a potential danger to the country's national security, but the British press spoke of Johnson's direct intervention to change the intelligence assessment, which the media described as a secret agreement between Johnson and the intelligence to withdraw this warning.

The war in Ukraine has renewed questions about the nomination of Lebedev Lord for life in the upper house of the British Parliament (French)

son of an intelligence officer

Unlike Russian businessmen who were affected by British sanctions, Yevgeny Lebedev, 41, arrived in Britain at the age of eight, when his father held a diplomatic position at the USSR Embassy in London.

Yevgeny lived in the British capital, where he learned and experienced a life of extravagance and luxury among its high-end neighborhoods. He inherited a huge fortune from his father. His father, Alexander Lebedev, is considered one of the richest people in Russia. billions of dollars.

Before Alexander accumulated this wealth, he worked as a senior officer in the KGB intelligence service of the Soviet Union, and later as an official in the Foreign Intelligence Service after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Although he was raised in London, Yevgeny's relationship with Russia did not break, to the extent that he tried to choose the title "Lord of Moscow" when appointed to the British House of Lords, but his request was rejected.

Yevgeny succeeded in forging strong relations with the British political elite, thanks to his possession of an influential media conglomerate in the British arena. He is the majority owner of the Evening Standard newspaper, the Independent newspaper and the London Evening channel. .

The young Russian of origin has always remained a question mark for the British and American press, especially his very strong relationship with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, which appeared to go back about a decade, which prompted the New York Times to say that “there is no evidence of intimacy.” Among the Russians and British institutions is Yevgeny Lebedev.

EXCLUSIVE w/@Gabriel_Pogrund

The head of MI6 had concerns about Boris Johnson's friend Evgeny Lebedev almost a decade ago

In 2013, Sir John Sawers repeatedly rejected bid by KGB agent's son to meet at MI6 HQ

No10 doesn't deny PM knew about the incident

https://t.co/EYTC418Oth

— Harry Yorke (@HarryYorke1) March 12, 2022

johnson's friend

The British newspaper "The Guardian" says that the relationship between Johnson and Yevgeny dates back to 2009 when Johnson was mayor of London, and Yevgeny was the supervisor, accompanied by his father, of the newspaper "Evening Standard", which supported Johnson's election campaign in 2012, and it appeared at that time that the relationship between The two sides are very strong.

In 2015, the two men appeared together in a campaign to highlight the phenomenon of homelessness among the British military veterans, and a year later, Yevgeny attended, according to the newspaper "The Guardian", a meeting at Johnson's home, attended by Conservative leaders in support of leaving the European Union.

In 2016, the Evening Standard newspaper began promoting Johnson as the good successor to British Prime Minister Theresa May, and the strong relationship between the two men continued and they appeared together at a party hosted by the Russian businessman in 2017, when Johnson was his country’s foreign minister and was one of the prominent figures who attended the ceremony until its end.

Johnson describes Yevgeny as a "major force for good," and upon Johnson's arrival as prime minister, the relationship between the two men strengthened, to the point that Johnson challenged his country's intelligence, to give his friend a seat in the House of Lords, a position in which its owner remains for life, and is considered a grant from the Queen on the recommendation of the Queen. from the prime minister.

Letters I obtained between Boris Johnson and Evgeny Lebedev reveal:

- Lebedev lobbied Johnson to back festival with 'substantial support' from Kremlin

- Johnson 'thrilled' to get Lebedev support

- Pair met dozens of times for dinners, drinks and partieshttps://t.co/B7se0LMuYI

— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) March 12, 2022

Intelligence warns

Levgeny Lebedev had previously angered British intelligence when he questioned a British Home Office report accusing Russia of being behind the poisoning of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, and even hinted at the possibility that the British intelligence service MI6 was responsible for the poisoning.

British intelligence has been monitoring Yevgeny's movements for years, which led it to reach the conclusion that "the man may pose a threat to the country's national security," especially after reports that he had personal relations with Russian President Putin, and even played the role of mediator between Boris Johnson when he was minister The Foreign Ministry and Moscow in the case of the poisoning of double agent Sergei Skripal.

Evening Standard and Independent both published stories overnight following our scoop that MI6 had concerns about Evgeny Lebedev a decade ago.

Now both have mysteriously disappeared: one piece is a dead link, the other leads to Lebedev's statement published last week pic.twitter.com/NUpPIr6ihV

— Gabriel Pogrund (@Gabriel_Pogrund) March 13, 2022

I am not an agent of Russia

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson continues to deny that he exerted any pressure or ignored the warnings of British intelligence, although the Parliamentary Committee on nominations to the House of Lords asked Johnson to reconsider Yevgeny's nomination based on intelligence reports.

Then Johnson responded to the alerts of the parliamentary committee, that it stemmed from "anti-Russian", before the intelligence assessment about Yevgeny mysteriously changed, and the Russian businessman was appointed to the House of Lords and bears the title of "Lord of Siberia".

The Russian businessman quickly reacted to the controversy surrounding his appointment to the House of Lords through a letter he published on the "Evening Standard" newspaper, denying himself the charge of working for Russia or working for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Russian businessman stressed that he does not pose any danger to Britain, "the country that I love, it is true that my father was a KGB officer, but that was many years ago and I am not an agent of Russia."

The message of the British businessman of Russian origin, may not be enough to close this file, after opposition leader Keir Starmer called for an investigation into the successors to Yevgeny's appointment in the House of Lords and how all security warnings were bypassed.