Tory Donor’s 'Link' to Sanctioned Oligarch’s Secret London Property

Lubov Chernukhin, nee Golubeva | LONDON NEWS PICTURES
BBC: A major Conservative Party donor was listed as a director of a company secretly owned by a Russian oligarch close to President Putin.

The BBC has seen a document dated 2006 and signed "Lubov Golubeva", the maiden name of Lubov Chernukhin, a Tory donor.

Mrs Chernukhin says she "does not recall consenting in writing" to being a director of Suleiman Kerimov's firm.

Mr Kerimov, now sanctioned, previously denied any connection with Mrs Chernukhin.

Papers seen by the BBC appear to show that Mrs Chernukhin, then Lubov Golubeva, was appointed a director of offshore company Radlett Estates Limited, in 2005 - following its acquisition of a substantial property, 1 Radlett Place, in north London.

Another firm - Swiru Holding AG - was the sole shareholder of Radlett Estates. The directors of Radlett Estates were Swiss businessman Alexander Studhalter and Suleiman Kerimov's nephew, Nariman Gadzhiev.

Mr Studhalter was accused in a French court of being a so-called "straw man", or proxy, for Mr Kerimov - involved in hiding the oligarch's wealth. » | James Oliver, Steve Swann and Nassos Stylianou, BBC Panorama and BBC News | Thursday, April 21, 2022

These people have come a very long way in a very short time. It’s surprising how far one can come when a communist country collapses and the assets are stripped by the élite! When the Soviet Union collapsed, the masses were impoverished to enrich the super-priviliged few. – © Mark

Britain’s Failure to Tackle Russian Dirty Money Has Enabled Putin’s Aggression

THE GUARDIAN: If Boris Johnson is serious about helping Ukraine, the most resolute action he can take is at home

We cannot be blind to the situation where wealth with direct links to Vladimir Putin’s regime has been allowed to proliferate here in the UK.’ Photograph: Sergei Savostyanov/AP
The prospect of war in our continent is more than enough to avert our gaze from the latest Whitehall troubles.

However, a prime minister who has found it so hard to speak the truth throughout his career surprised us all with a hard dose of it when he stood before parliament last week to address the situation in Ukraine, saying: “Ukraine asks for nothing except to be allowed to live in peace and to seek her own alliances, as every sovereign country has a right to do.” It was a sentiment echoed by the leader of the opposition, by my own party’s Westminster group leader, Ian Blackford MP, and by every other SNP MP who responded to the statement.

As someone who has spent my life campaigning for the sovereign right of the people of Scotland to determine our own futures, sovereignty is a principle fundamental to my own worldview. To see such pressures being exerted on a state that has resolutely set itself on a path to integration with the liberal democratic order is unspeakable. Like any European country, Ukraine must be free to organise its governance and security alliances as it sees fit. » | Nicola Sturgeon * | Tuesday, February 1, 2022

* Nicola Sturgeon is first minister of Scotland and leader of the Scottish National party