ITALY’S secret intelligence service were monitoring the Lebedev family’s luxury villa at the time Boris Johnson visited while serving as foreign secretary in 2018, a documentary has revealed.
According to the Channel 4 documentary Boris, the Lord and the Russian Spy, Italy’s security services concluded in a secret document that Alexander Lebedev – a businessman and former Russian spy – continued to receive the “favour and friendship” of Russian president Vladimir Putin.
They also questioned whether he continued to have connections with Russian intelligence services despite leaving the KGB decades earlier.
Johnson attended a party hosted by Lebedev’s son, media magnate Evgeny Lebedev, at the luxury Palazzo Terranova villa in Umbria following a Nato summit in Brussels in April 2018.
During a session with the Commons liaison committee last year, Johnson admitted for the first time that he had met Alexander Lebedev at the party with no officials present.
Johnson claimed that “no government business was discussed”.
In 2020, Evgeny Lebedev was given a life peerage in the House of Lords by Boris Johnson. However, the documentary also revealed that UK Government officials contacted Buckingham Palace to request that the late Queen block the appointment.
The palace reportedly refused to become involved for fear of involving the Queen in political controversy.
Italian MP Lia Quartapelle told the filmmakers said it would be prudent of politicians to “be careful” about the kind of relationship they keep with Alexander Lebedev.
“The conclusion of the report is that it cannot be ruled out that he still works for the KGB or he still is involved in KGB activities,” she said.
“The report says that it cannot be excluded that Lebedev today, up to date, enjoys the favour of Vladimir Putin. You should really be careful on what kind of relationship you keep with such a person.
“Clearly from the report, it stands out that the properties were part and tool of a network of relationships. They were part and tool of a strategy of influence. And so it was noticed who was there, how many times people went there and so on.”
A spokesperson for Johnson said that there were “no concerns” about Evgeny Lebedev despite the security concerns surrounding his father: “As this programme makes clear, there were no concerns about Lord Lebedev … Lord Lebedev is a British citizen.
“He has invested in British journalism and has extensively criticised the Russian regime.
“It is not right to judge people on the basis of their country of birth or the sound of their surname. This is a tiresome and xenophobic campaign.”
A spokesperson for Evgeny Lebedev told the documentary: “Any suggestion he was or would be party to allowing any form of espionage, whether connected to Russia or anyone else, would be false.
“This allegation bears the hallmarks of anti-Russian racist harassment.”
