Farage dismisses claims he receievd payments from Russian state
Nigel Farage has said it is “nonsense” to suggest he received hundreds of thousands of pounds from the Russian state.
Labour MP Chris Bryant told a parliamentary debate that he wanted to “point out” payments for Mr Farage amounting to almost £550,000, which he said came from the Kremlin-backed broadcaster RT – formerly known as Russia Today.
But former Ukip and Brexit Party leader Mr Farage dismissed the claims and said he only received “two small appearance fees” with both “well under £5,000”.
Speaking in the House of Commons as MPs considered Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Mr Bryant said he was “mystified” by some of the names missing from the UK sanctions list.
The former minister used parliamentary privilege to identify individuals including broadcasters “trotting out propaganda” on Russian television, others said to be associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime, plus those involved in Gazprom contracts.
Mr Bryant also questioned why Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich’s properties “owned through his subsidiaries, as it were, or members of his family rather” have not been frozen.
He went on: “I don’t understand why Arron Banks, frankly, isn’t on the list either. Even Isabel Oakeshott now thinks that he is an ‘agent of influence for the Russian state’.
“I simply point out that Nigel Farage received from Russia Today £548,573 in 2018 alone – from the Russian state.”
Mr Farage told the PA news agency: “What a nonsense, sadly said under parliamentary privilege.
“I had two small appearance fees back then, well under £5,000. Not appeared since.”
Mr Banks was a major donor to the Leave.EU campaign in the run-up to the 2016 referendum.
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