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Tory party manipulated by Russian money says Wales’ Counsel General

15 Feb 2022 3 minute read
Mick Antoniw. Counsel General

The Tory party is being manipulated by Russian money, according to Wales’ Counsel General.

Mick Antoniw said he was speaking in a personal capacity in making the comments, not on behalf of the Welsh Government. His father came to the UK from Ukraine seeking refugee status following World War II.

Writing in the Western Mail on developments on the Russian-Ukraine border, he said that Russia was increasingly exerting political influence across the west.

“There is no doubt Russian propaganda has been increasingly effective across the world, but the scale of interference and manipulation across eastern and central Europe is significant as is their political intrusion into the US and Europe,” he said.

“Russian money has increasingly been manipulating political systems across Europe, not least in the Tory party, which may explain their reluctance to act on the ‘Russia’ report following the Skripal poisonings and their total failure to tackle oligarchic money laundering and corruption in London which has become the money laundering capital of the world.”

‘Assimilation’

Mick Antoniw wrote that the conflict in Ukraine was the fault of Vladimir Putin’s Russia, rather than NATO’s expansion west.

“No one in Wales should be under any illusion that this conflict is a direct result of Putin’s commitment to recreating a greater Russian empire,” he wrote. “He sees Ukraine and Belarus as one people with Russia. He has made it clear that he does not recognise Ukraine as a sovereign nation.

“Prior to the 2014 invasion of Ukraine, the overwhelming majority of the population did not see any need to or desire to join Nato. The invasion changed all that.

“Ukraine now looks for allies who will help it resist Russian aggression and support its right to defend its sovereignty. It is ironic that Putin seeks legally binding defence guarantees from the West. It is the very same Putin alongside the United States, Britain and France who signed a legally binding guarantee of Ukrainian sovereignty in return for giving up its nuclear weapons.

“It is tragic that at a stroke, Putin has by his actions guaranteed that there will never be any further unilateral nuclear disarmament. What country would now ever give up its weaponry in return for such guarantees?

“He is intent on the assimilation of Ukraine and Belarus in any event and his speeches and writings make that clear. Nato is a camouflage for these ambitions.”


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Mr Williams
Mr Williams
2 years ago

I hope Mick Antoniw runs for First Minister next time. He strikes me as a man who will always put Wales first and stand up to the Westminster elites.

Mab Meirion
Mab Meirion
2 years ago

Mr Antoniw how very interesting and a timely reminder to be wary of how news is presented. Could I encourage you to enlighten us further on N.C. The idea that one’s country is at the mercy of another more powerful state chimes louder than I care to admit.

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