A documentary from the British television channel Channel 4, broadcast on Tuesday June 28, revives the controversy over the appointment by Boris Johnson, shortly after becoming Prime Minister, of Evgeny Lebedev to the House of Lords. The latter, son of ex-KGB agent Alexander Lebedev, a contemporary of Vladimir Putin who became a wealthy businessman after the fall of the USSR, entered the upper house of the British Parliament in November 2020, with a title as pompous as it is surprising: Baron Lebedev of Hampton and Siberia. The House of Lords does not have the powers of the House of Commons but sitting there (one is a member for life) gives access to the heart of British power and confers a thick veneer of respectability.
It was known that Lebedev senior had spent four years at the Russian Embassy in London, between 1988 and 1992, spying on British personalities, and that after the fall of the communist regime, he had become an oligarch, had resigned from the KGB and s was installed in London, raising a voice slightly critical of the Russian regime. We also know that in what looks like a strategy characterized by influence, he had bought with his son two of the most important newspapers in the country: theEvening Standardin 2009, then The Independentin 2010.
Evgeny Lebedev, a British citizen brought up in the UK, was placed in charge of these titles by his father. Since the 2010s, this man born in 1980, with a well-trimmed beard and impeccable suits, has woven an impressive network, courting political leaders (George Osborne, Tony Blair, etc.) and celebrities during flamboyant parties, in his London properties or at Palazzo Terranova, his splendid residence in Umbria (Italy). He also maintained a friendship with Boris Johnson, to the point of sharing a piece of sidewalk with the troublemaker of British political life, in 2012, when the latter was mayor of London and they jointly campaigned for the homeless. I’Evening Standard supported Mr Johnson’s two successful campaigns for mayor of London (in 2008 and in 2012).
According to Channel 4, which interviewed two ex-MI6 agents and senior officials, the British secret services repeatedly alerted Boris Johnson, when he was foreign minister (between 2016 and 2018) then prime minister ( from July 2019), on the likelihood of continuing ties between the Lebedevs and the Kremlin. The Lebedevs cannot play with impunity in London “without some form of Russian state approval”explains ex-intelligence officer Matthew Dunn.
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