“It does appear in some of the conversations that there has been money put aside to allow other individuals to be paid for their services,” Met Police commander Dominic Murphy told the BBC before Gill’s sentencing.
Voloshyn’s phone was examined when stopped by FBI investigators at Washington DC’s Dulles Airport in July 2021.
That month, the Speaker of the House of Commons warned MPs against talking to Voloshyn as he allegedly had sought the support of UK politicians to “promote Russian foreign policy objectives”.
The US government sanctioned Voloshyn in 2022 and called him a “pawn” of the FSB, Russia’s security service, and accused him of undermining Ukraine’s government.
That same year, the UK government also sanctioned Voloshyn and Medvedchuk, accusing both of “destabilising Ukraine”.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called on Reform UK leader Farage, external, the former UKIP and Brexit Party boss, to “launch an investigation into his party urgently” to see if there’s “other links between his party and Russia.”
Farage said he was “very confident, as confident as I can be,” that nobody else in any of his parties, past or present, had done similar things to Gill.
Farage added he was “not a police force” and did not have powers to investigate but did say there should be a broader investigation into Russian and Chinese interference in British politics, suggesting MI5 should conduct it.
In a statement, Reform UK said Coburn has had “no involvement” with the current party.
A Met Police spokesperson said nobody else had been arrested or interviewed under caution but said the force’s investigation “remains ongoing.”
