MI5 has repeatedly refused to investigate evidence that alleged Russian spies are trying to extend the influence of senior Conservative politicians and channel illicit Russian money into the party, a Tory member said, according to investigative authority. Alleged in a new complaint filed with the Court (IPT).
Conservative activist and former BBC World Service journalist Sergey Christo filed a complaint with the Court of Investigative Powers after contacting Conservative MP Julian Lewis, chairman of the parliamentary information security committee. submitted. We will pass the information on to the authorities.
The Commission’s Russia report claims that security officials turned a blind eye to “credible evidence” of Russian intervention in 2020, and Christo’s allegations uncover potentially explosive new evidence to support its findings. Labor MP Ben Bradshaw said: “The allegations that public security officials ignored evidence from Conservative whistleblowers and exposed Russian infiltration at the highest levels of the party are truly shocking. Yes,” he said, arguing that the “Conservative Russia problem” was a continuing threat to Britain’s national security.
After reading the Russian report, Christo said he “suddenly realized that my story was more important than I thought”, and at Lewis’ suggestion, wrote to Cressida Dick, who was then Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police. .
He received a response from the Counter-Terrorism Command (SO15), saying it was not a problem for Metropolitan Airlines, and advised him to take it to the IPT, which oversees security services.
The allegations center on the 2012 formation of a group called Conservative Friends of Russia and his relationship with Russian diplomat Sergey Nalobin.
In August of that year, Russian Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko celebrated the group’s luxury in the gardens of his Kensington mansion, with guests including former Minister of Culture, Media and Sport John Whittingdale and current Minister Boris Johnson. hosted a launch party. his wife Carrie Simmons; The Russian government also funded an all-expenses-paid trip to Moscow for a select group of members, including Vote Leave’s future CEO Matthew Elliott.
Christo said his suspicions about Narobin, who was the embassy’s political first secretary, were aroused two years ago when he was approached by a diplomat and met at the Carlton Club. When he learned that he was a volunteer in the accounting department of the Movement Headquarters (CCHQ), he said, “I can introduce Russian companies that donate to the Conservative Party.”
“I quickly learned that what he was suggesting was illegal under English law,” Christo wrote in a letter to Lewis last year.
Surprised by Narobin’s efforts and the embassy’s group’s patronage, Christo contacted Luke Harding. Guardian and revealed Narobin’s background and disturbing relationship with the group.Harding and journalists in Russia insider It turns out that Narobin had family ties to the FSB spy agency. His father, Nikolai, was a general in his KGB, whose responsibilities included directing Alexander his Litvinenko, while his younger brother Viktor also worked for his FSB.
The resulting article led to the resignation of Sir Malcolm Rifkind, Honorary President of the Society of Conservative Friends of Russia, and the renaming of the group.
What Christo has never revealed before is his unsuccessful attempt to get the security service to work.he says he filed a whistleblower Guardian Only after his attempts to force the authorities to take action failed. In 2011, he repeatedly tried to issue a warning at MI5. After an initial meeting with his junior agent went awry, he wrote to the director of MI5, resulting in a further meeting with the two agents at a government building in Whitehall.
Christo meets with Narobin again and offers to turn on a hidden camera and question him about how the Russian government intended to donate. That offer was also declined, and he was advised to stop contacting Narrobin.
He also conveyed his concerns to senior members of the party after a discussion with Britain’s most famous Russian exile, former KGB colonel Oleg Gordievsky. Gordievsky looks up Narobin’s biography and tells Christo that he believes he is a spy.
Conservative Friends of Russia was reinvented as the Westminster Russia Forum and finally shut down completely last year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, Narobin continued to develop close ties with MPs and Conservative Party activists for three more years, until the Foreign Office refused to renew his visa.
In 2017, Observer published an article referencing Narobin’s interest in the rivalry between David Cameron and Boris Johnson and his deportation from the UK. e-mail has been sent.of Observer declined to do so. Last year, Narobin surfaced in Estonia when news broke that he was expelled for espionage and was “directly and actively involved in compromising Estonia’s security.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been accused of having more intelligence services in London than at the height of the Cold War.
“I think this is important because it shouldn’t have happened,” Christo said last week. “If MI5 had taken action, Friends of the Conservatives of Russia would not have been launched and Narrobin would not have been allowed access to so many key Conservative politicians and members.”
