A photograph has emerged of British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson with the “London professor” whose alleged high-level Kremlin contacts have led to him featuring in the FBI’s investigation into links between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia.
It will add to questions about the possibility of attempted Russian influence at the heart of the British government.
The picture, which was posted on Facebook shows Johnson, wine glass in hand, standing with Joseph Mifsud, the Maltese academic and a businessman, Prasenjit Kumar Singh. It is alleged that Mifsud was a key link between Russia and the Trump campaign.
The image was originally posted by Singh, who also included other photos of the event, a Conservative Party fund-raiser held in Reading, outside London, on October 19 and was discovered by Gavin Sheridan, a freelance journalist.
Update: I did some extra digging. The Olga account in question liked a pic of a certain man in London. That certain man was at an event attended by Mifsud and Boris Johnson two weeks ago where this pic was taken. Isn't that Mifsud on the left with the British foreign secretary? pic.twitter.com/fTNJSnwPLp
— Gavin Sheridan (@gavinsblog) November 11, 2017
The Foreign Office, responding to questions about potential ties between Mifsud and Johnson, as well as other Foreign Office officials, had previously said that Johnson had no recollection of ever meeting Mifsud.
It is not clear if Mifsud and Johnson spoke at the Tory fund-raiser in October. Singh, the businessman photographed with them, told The Observer that he did not know if Mifsud had introduced himself to the foreign secretary, who is not looking directly at the camera in the picture.
Mifsud has emerged as the alleged link between George Papadopoulos, an adviser to the Trump presidential campaign, and a Russian woman, Olga Polonskaya, who was also known by her maiden name, Olga Vinogradova, and first identified by POLITICO. Papadopoulos was apparently under the impression that she was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s niece. Mifsud reportedly told Papadopoulos that Polonskaya had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in “thousands of e-mails.”
Sheridan wrote on Twitter that he had initially found a Facebook friend connection between Polonskaya and Mifsud last month, and made an archived copy of Polonskaya’s page, which has since been altered.
