The Tories pocketed almost £80,000 in donations from a Russian-born banker whose husband is a former Vladimir Putin minister just months before the invasion of Ukraine, new figures reveal.
Lubov Chernukhin, whose husband Vladimir served as deputy finance minister to President Putin before coming to the UK, made two donations of £13,750 in October and £66,500 in December last year.
There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Ms Chernukhin, who is a British citizen and has been legally entitled to make political donations since 2012.
The Mirror understands the first payment was for a table at the party’s notorious Black and White Ball fundraiser, where wealthy benefactors can rub shoulders with senior ministers and MPs while Boris Johnson rattles his donation tin to bolster party coffers.
The second donation is understood to be a successful bid in the event’s auction, where the party sells access to cabinet ministers to the highest bidder.
Ms Chernukhin has repeatedly paid for access to successive Prime Ministers ministers in the auction, including a cosy night out with Theresa May and a tennis match with Boris Johnson.
Last year's event saw an hour playing cricket with Rishi Sunak sold for £35,000 - while a karaoke session with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss raised £22,000, though it’s not currently known what Ms Chernukhin’s cash bought her.
In total Ms Chernukhin has given almost £2 million to the party - and is the biggest female political donor in British history.
The £80,000 brings her total donations to the central party and individual Tory MPs for 2021 to £155,225.
At Prime Minister's Questions, Labour MP Bill Esterson called on Boris Johnson to agree to hand the £2 million donated by Ms Chernukhin to charity.
"I know he doesn't want to tar everyone with Russian links with the same brush, and neither do I," he said.
"But leaked documents show that Vladimir Chernukhin received $8 million from a Russian member of Parliament, an ally of Putin who was later sanctioned by the United States."
Mr Esterson said this was an opportunity for the PM to end speculation over conflicts of interest and "showing solidarity with the Ukrainian people."
The Prime Minister responded to say it was "vital" to "demonstrate that this is not about the Russian people, it is about the Putin regime."
Vladimir Chernukhin served as Mr Putin's deputy finance minister in the early 2000s, although the Conservative Party has said he had since fallen out of favour with the President.
In 2020, Ms Chernukhin's lawyer said: "Mrs Chernukhin has never received money deriving from [the Russian MP referred to by Mr Esterson] or any company related to him.
"Mrs Chernukhin’s donations to the Conservative Party have never been tainted by Kremlin or any other influence. "
