British peers attended Russian ambassador’s party in London

Lord Skidelsky (left) and Lord Balfe, who said he believed ‘Crimea is most definitely Russian’ and that Moscow had legitimate claims on Donetsk and Luhansk. Composite: Alamy/Getty Images

Two British peers were among 50 people who attended a party organised by the Russian ambassador to the UK at his opulent residence in west London last month, to mark the creation of a Russia independent of the Soviet Union.

Andrei Kelin, the Russian ambassador, spoke at the event where he sought to justify his country’s bloody invasion of Ukraine, while those attending included the Conservative Lord Balfe and cross-bencher Lord Skidelsky.