'Any money that is put into the Russian economy in one way or the other, be it directly, be it through investment, be it through taxes...that money goes to sponsor the army'
A Ukrainian MP has slammed Rishi Sunak’s wife for profiting from a company that is still operating in Moscow, despite the chancellor himself urging people to think carefully before investing in Russia to prevent any benefit to Putin’s regime.
Appearing on LBC, Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko said: “Any money that is put into the Russian economy in one way or the other, be it directly, be it through investment, be it through taxes…that money goes to sponsor the army.
“In simpler terms to buy the bullets that are killing Ukrainian children and Ukrainian women and unarmed civilians.”
Lesia made the comments after presenter Andrew Castle asked about Akshata Murthy, Sunak’s wife, owning a stake “worth hundreds of millions” in the company Infosys which is operating in Russia.
The MP added: “Every company has a choice to make. It can run the business as usual and make your money but then you have to live with the fact that it is dirty money.”
Sunak was also asked about his family allegedly profiting from links to Russia last week following his Spring Statement. Sky News presenter Jayne Secker asked the chancellor: “It’s been reported that you’ve got family links to Russia. That your wife apparently has a stake in the Indian IT consultancy firm Infosys, they operate in Moscow, they have an office there, they have a delivery office there, they’ve got a connection to the Alpha bank in Moscow, are you giving advice to others that you’re not following in your own home?”
Sunak replied: “I’m here to talk to you about what I am responsible for, my wife is not.”
Asked once more if his family was benefiting from Putin’s regime, Sunak replied: “I don’t think that’s the case and as I’ve said the operations of all companies are up to them, we’ve put in place significant sanctions and all the companies we’re responsible for are following those as they rightly should.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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