The Russian oligarch Vladimir Chernukhin and his wife, Lubov, have long been known for their generous support for the Conservative Party. Since 2012 Lubov has given the party at least £2.1 million, as well as an individual gift to former home secretary Priti Patel of a further £70,000 to fund her bid for the party leadership last year.

But these are uncertain times, and now, UnHerd can reveal, the Chernukhins are cultivating new political friends. Over two days in the first week of August, at their turreted villa with a stunning view of the Mediterranean at Cap d’Antibes, they hosted Reform UK Deputy Leader Richard Tice along with his partner, the journalist Isabel Oakeshott.

They had dinner à quatre at the Michelin-starred restaurant at the Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat; Tice told me the meal was “very good”. The villa, he added cagily, was “very nice […] all those villas have a history and a heritage, so that’s the nature of it, but I’m not going to give any details.”

The trip, he admitted, wasn’t all sunbathing: it was “about power, not parties”. When I asked what that meant, he disclosed that Lubov is “quite interested in energy projects, as in gas-fired power stations. Obviously we at Reform are very focused on sensibly priced energy, the fact we’ve got a shortage of it in the UK, and what we’re going to do about it.” She is, Tice added, “looking very closely” at investing in gas plants, “as you would expect from a smart entrepreneur who understands the common sense facts of economic life”.

For her part, Tice said, Lubov was seeking reassurance that a Reform UK government would create “an attractive regulatory environment in which to operate. There’ll be a general election in less than four years and we’ve got a cracking chance of winning it.” He added: “I’m talking to oil and gas people, saying get your oil and gas applications ready. We want lots of home-grown energy and we want it cheap.”

Vladimir Chernukhin served as Russia’s deputy finance minister from 2000 until 2002, then as chairman of a state-owned bank. But after his mentor, the then-Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, fell out with Vladimir Putin, in late 2004 Chernukhin fled the country for Britain — taking with him a fortune that already amounted to almost £400 million.

He continued to own a large stake in Navio Holdings, a lucrative Russian textile business, along with Oleg Deripaska, another oligarch with a keen interest in British politicians. When it emerged that both Blair-era cabinet minister (now Ambassador to Washington) Lord Mandelson and then-Shadow Chancellor George Osborne had been guests on his luxury yacht, both suffered serious political embarrassment. Eventually the Chernukhin–Deripaska partnership soured, triggering a High Court battle in London, which ended with Deripaska being ordered to pay him some £74 million.

In 2021, the leaked Pandora Papers revealed that the Chernukhins, whose residences also include a £10 million home in Oxfordshire and a £30 million townhouse overlooking Regent’s Park, controlled a web of 32 offshore companies registered in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) to help them maintain their opulent lives. These firms were used to fund their superyacht cruises several times a year and a private jet — as well as the villa at Cap d’Antibes, which is said to have once belonged to an English aristocrat. In 2016, French tax authorities tried to extract information about its ownership and status from the Panamanian law firm that managed the Chernukhins’ BVI interests. This triggered consternation, as recorded in the Pandora leak.

The couple are now UK citizens, though Vladimir is said to retain non-domicile status in order, legally, to avoid tax. But it is his wife who has always been more interested in politics. Aside from her cash donations to the Tories, in 2014 Lubov paid £160,000 to play tennis with Boris Johnson, then London Mayor, and PM David Cameron. Six years later, she forked out another £45,000 at the Black and White party fundraising ball to play Johnson again, and in 2019 dined with then-PM Theresa May and six members of her Cabinet for £135,000.

When asked whether he thinks that staying chez Chernukhin might cause controversy, given the publicity over their offshore companies and court cases, Tice said: “I don’t know about these other matters. Generally, successful people have always had legal rows. I’m having legal rows with [Labour donor and green energy tycoon] Dale Vince. Does that make me a bad person? No.”

Does Tice hope that Lubov Chernukhin may give money to Reform? For now, it seems not. “She is a Conservative,” he replied.

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David Rose is UnHerd‘s Investigations Editor.

DavidRoseUK

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