Boris Johnson has denied overriding security concerns to secure a peerage for Lord Lebedev.
The Prime Minister today said the claims are "simply incorrect" and added it would "obviously be extraordinary" if he had intervened to secure his Russian-born friend's peerage.
The PM avoided responding to a question on whether he met Lord Lebedev in March 2020, at the height of the first wave of the pandemic, to discuss the peerage.
But he did warn against a "witch hunt" of Russians in the UK.
Mr Johnson added: “It is very, very important that this should not turn into a general sense that ‘we’re against Russians – any Russian – living in the UK, any Russian who contributes to UK society should suddenly be under suspicion’, that suits Putin’s agenda.
“He’s going to want to frame this as a conflict between Russia and the West.
“This is about the Ukrainian people, their struggle against a murderous attack on their liberty, and a murderous and a violent attack on cities in Ukraine that have done absolutely nothing to deserve it.
“We must not play Putin’s game and somehow turn this into a witch hunt against every Russian in the in the UK."
When asked why the PM intervened, a spokesman for the PM said: “All peerages are vetted by the House of Lords appointment commissioned and as you know HOLAC seeks advice from Government departments and agencies where appropriate.
“You have heard the Deputy PM set out yesterday that this was done entirely properly and correctly and we have procedures and systems in place to ensure that it is.”
This morning, Foreign Office minister James Cleverely defended Lord Lebedev's peerage.
Mr Cleverly told BBC Radio 4: “He is here as a British dual national, he is a businessman, he has been an effective businessman."
Asked why the son of a former KGB agent had been granted a seat in Parliament, Mr Cleverly said: “My father was a former chartered surveyor, but I’m not. So what your father did for work is, I’m not completely sure totally relevant.”
It comes hours after Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper wrote to Mr Johnson following reports which claimed spooks withdrew an assessment that granting a peerage to the Moscow-born son of an ex-KGB agent posed a national security risk after Mr Johnson personally intervened.
Ms Cooper has called on the PM to “make available to the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) the advice and information you were given about the ennobling of Evgeny Lebedev and full information about the role you played in the process”.
