A Russian ex-minister was handed a UK visa after a now-sanctioned oligarch fixed him up with a job.
Priti Patel has defended stringent checks on Ukrainian refugees, claiming Putin could be sending Russian agents to the UK with biological weapons, posing as women and children fleeing the conflict.
But in 2004 the Home Office granted Vladimir Chernukhin, Mr Putin’s former deputy finance minister, a work visa - and eventually British citizenship - because oligarch Oleg Deripaska arranged a job for him in this country, according to claims made by Mr Chernukhin in court.
