Sheffield's Dan Walker quizzes Liz Truss over Russian cash in Conservative party using 2019 photo of 'ladies' night'

The Foreign Secretary was quizzed on BBC Breakfast this morning (February 23) about the growing threat of invasion in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed by the Government on Tuesday.

Mrs Truss claimed she would leave “nothing off the table” and would bring further sanctions against “anybody who we believe has links to the Putin regime”.

When asked about how the Conservative party had received nearly £2m from donors with Russian links since Boris Johnson became Prime Minister, she insisted all donations were declared.

"I think it’s very important that we don’t conflate people with Russian heritage and Russian background with people who are close to the Putin regime,” said the Foreign Secretary.

However, she then dodged a direct question when presenter Dan Walker reminded her of a photo of herself and Theresa May at a ‘ladies’ night’ dinner party with Russian donor Lubov Chernukhin.

The wife of former Russian minister and oligarch Vladamir Chernukhin – who the BBC presenter said has “strong ties to the Kremlin” – is the one of the biggest female donors in recent British political history and since 2012 has given the Conservative party £2.1m.

In the 2019 photo, Mrs Cherunkhin is pictured with who were at the time six female cabinet member, including then PM Theresa May.

“Liz Truss, that shows us, doesn’t it, the closeness of the British Government to Russian money?” asked the BBC Breakfast presenter.

The Foreign Secretary avoided answering directly, instead repeating an earlier statement that the Government “would target anybody” linked to “Putin’s appalling regime”.

"Are you embarrassed by seeing photographs like that?” asked the Sheffield presenter.

"No, I’m not,” said Liz Truss. “I attended a dinner at the time. I make my decisions as foreign secretary on the basis of what is right and, as I’ve said, without prejudice, we will target anybody who is of interest in terms of the Russian regime.

“There are no other considerations as far as I’m concerned.”

Walker followed up by asking if the money should be given back, to which Truss answered: “As I’ve said, there is money donated to the Conservative Party. Everybody who donates is on the British electoral register. They are fully vetted before making those donations.

"I think it’s very important that we don’t conflate people with Russian heritage and Russian background with people who are close to the Putin regime.”

Earlier in the interview, Mrs Truss was asked to comment on how several members of her own party had criticised the sanctions laid out yesterday as as ‘weak’.

The Government’s response to troops and tanks reportedly entering two Ukrainian regions that Putin claims are “independent” was to freeze the assets of three oligarchs and sanction five Russian banks.

MP Tom Tugendhat called it a “free pass” while former leader Ian Duncan Smith remarked: “If we’re going to hit them with sanctions we need to hit them hard and hit them now.”

Liz Truss responded: “These are the toughest sanctions we’ve ever put on Russian.

"Putin and his cronies will be fearing that they will be hit next.”

Dan Walker is a presenter for BBC Breakfast who lives in Sheffield.

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