Brexit backer Arron Banks’ meetings with Russian officials in run up to EU vote
One of the major financial backers of the Brexit campaign, Arron Banks, is said to have held meetings with the Russian Ambassador on three occasions, in the run up to the EU referendum vote.
Additionally he flew out to Moscow to look at potential business plans in Russia.
These revelations have come to light in The Sunday Times and The Observer via a series of leaked e-mails. 40,000 emails are said to have been obtained by journalist Isabel Oakeshott.
Banks had previously claimed he had only one meeting with any Russian officials, a “boozy six-hour lunch with the ambassador” in Autumn 2015.
Banks response to the articles has been combative he said “I had two boozy lunches with the Russian ambassador and another cup of tea with him.
”Bite me. It’s a convenient political witch-hunt, both over Brexit and Trump. Make your own mind up.”
In a statement, the Russian embassy said: “The Russian Embassy has not in any way intervened in domestic UK political process, including the Brexit referendum. Meeting stakeholders representing all political spectrum of the host country is a natural element of the work of any embassy.”
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