Putin has his tentacles here, too

US intelligence agencies are convinced that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election and its primaries. There are reports that Putin is attempting to sow discord in this year's race also.

It would be surprising if Putin had not also directed his propaganda fire at our general elections and the 2016 referendum. We will know more when the report on Russian meddling/compiled during the last session by Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee sees the light of day. That will be published when the new Intelligence and Security Committee is reappointed. The appointment of select committees should have happened by now, but has been held up for various reasons explained by the Institute for Government here. The government's majority and the election of a Speaker less proactive than his predecessor must have helped prime minister Johnson. The composition of the committees has finally been agreed and should be confirmed by the House next Monday. The publication of the report should now be a formality.

But there are already links between the government party and Putin on the public record. The Byline Times - which seems to be staffed by proper journalists who cannot get their investigations published by the mainstream media - reports on the loss of a central London landmark to a Putin-connected Ukrainian oligarch. Dmytro Firtash thrived under the corrupt former Ukrainian leader and Russian client, Viktor Yanukovych. The expulsion of Firtash's trading company by a later Ukrainian government does not seem to have inhibited him, nor does being named in a FBI warrant for bribery and racketeering. Byline reports:

Firtash had previously donated extensively to the Conservative Party via his proxy, Shetler-Jones.[Robert Shetler-Jones, the chief executive of Firtash’s global network of companies’ holding group – Group DF] Whittingdale had taken many trips to Ukraine at the BUS’ expense. In October 2013, Whittingdale was also on the organising committee of the ‘Days of Ukraine’ festival in London, which was sponsored by Group DF and the businessman’s charitable foundation.

Firtash was awarded the honour of being the first businessman to ever open the London Stock Exchange after the festival’s grand opening in the House of Commons. The venture had the patronage of President Yanukovych and the support of the then Mayor of London and current Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.

Whittingdale and Spring are no longer on the board of the British Ukrainian Society, which appears to continue to be heavily influenced by Russian-Ukrainian banks.

One other thing worries me. Whittingdale is a long-time opponent of an independent BBC as well as an ardent Brexiteer and economic liberal. He is now a minister in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport which watches over the media including the press as well as the broadcasters. Is it right for someone who happily allied himself with dodgy Ukrainian interests and through them to Putin to be in such a responsible position?