UK Politics Thread

[Pannonian]

Now, a leaked record of some of Mr. Banks?s emails suggest that he and his closest adviser had a more engaged relationship with Russian diplomats than he has disclosed.

While Mr. Banks was spending more than eight million British pounds to promote a break with the European Union ? an outcome the Russians eagerly hoped for ? his contacts at the Russian Embassy in London were opening the door to at least three potentially lucrative investment opportunities in Russian-owned gold or diamond mines.

One of Mr. Banks?s business partners, and a fellow backer of Britain?s exit from the European Union, or Brexit, took the Russians up on at least one of the deals.

The extent of these business discussions, which have not been previously reported, raise new questions about whether the Kremlin sought to reward critical figures in the Brexit campaign. Much as in Washington, where investigations are underway into the possibility that Donald J. Trump?s campaign may have cooperated with the Russians, Britain is now grappling with whether Moscow tried to use its close ties with any British citizens to promote Brexit.

In Washington, the investigators for the special prosecutor, Robert S. Mueller III, and Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee have also obtained records of Mr. Banks?s communications, including some with Russian diplomats and about Russian business deals.

And they have taken a special interest in close ties Mr. Banks and other Brexit leaders built to the Trump campaign.

On Nov. 12, 2016, Mr. Banks met President-elect Trump in Trump Tower. Upon his return to London, Mr. Banks had another lunch with the Russian ambassador where they discussed the Trump visit.

?From what we?ve seen, the parallels between the Russian intervention in Brexit and the Russian intervention in the Trump campaign appear to be extraordinary,? said Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.

?The Russians were apparently dangling gold mines and diamond mines and financial incentives behind one of the largest backers of Brexit,? he added.

Earlier this month, Mr. Banks testified before a committee of Parliament in part to answer questions about his Russian ties. He acknowledged having had three meetings ? ?two lunches and a cup of tea,? as he later said in interviews ? with the Russian ambassador, Alexander V. Yakovenko, rather than just the famous boozy lunch.

He also acknowledged reports that the ambassador had invited him to invest in the consolidation of six Russian gold mines, an offer he said he ultimately declined.

But in his testimony, Mr. Banks did not mention the two other potentially lucrative opportunities detailed in the broader record of his electronic communications.

One involved a state-controlled Russian diamond mining giant, Alrosa. The other involved a Russian businessman ? described in an email to Mr. Banks as ?a mini oligarch? ? and a gold mine in Conakry, Guinea.

In an interview on Friday, Mr. Banks acknowledged that these other business deals were proposed to him, but he said that he never acted on them. He denied any wrongdoing, noting that his opposition to the European Union long predated his meeting with the Russian ambassador.

He argued that any business discussions that emerged from those meetings were insignificant because he had never ?done any Russian deals,? so ?after the wholesale theft of my emails, there is still no smoking gun there.?

But Damian Collins, who is chairman of the parliamentary committee investigating the potential Russian use of disinformation to influence the Brexit vote, said he had seen a record of the messages about the potential Russian mining investments and questioned Russian intentions toward Mr. Banks.

?The question is, Why would the Russians do this for Banks?? Mr. Collins asked in an interview. ?What it looks like is that Russia decided he was someone they wanted to do business with and they wanted to see prosper and succeed ? and Banks, alongside that, wanted to hide the extent of his contacts with the Russians.?

Russians Offered Business Deals to Brexit?s Biggest Backer

In related, more recent news, Alexander Lebedev has been sanctioned by Canada as one of Putin's inner circle, while the UK government has taken steps to protect him. NB. his son Evgeny was made a Lord by Boris Johnson against the advice of the security services.