Russian state media circulate fake story about former UK PM Boris Johnson taking £1 million “bribe” to derail Russia-Ukraine talks

In reality, The Guardian did publish a story titled “The £1m man: why did Boris Johnson take his donor to Ukraine?” The article discussed a donation made by investor Chris Harborne to Johnson’s private fund after his resignation, and noted that Harborne accompanied Johnson on a September 2023 visit to Ukraine. However, the paper made no mention whatsoever of the failed Istanbul peace talks or any alleged bribe — those claims are clear fabrications by Kremlin propagandists.

The Insider has previously reported on how Vladimir Putin accused Johnson of sabotaging the 2022 Istanbul negotiations. It is true that Johnson’s visit to Kyiv on Apr. 9, 2022 came at a time when talks between Russian and Ukrainian representatives were proceeding in Turkey. However, a draft peace proposal dated Apr. 15, 2022 shows that those talks continued after Johnson’s trip. Johnson later told The Wall Street Journal that, while in Kyiv, he had merely expressed skepticism about the possibility of reaching a deal with Putin:

“I could not see for the life of me what the deal could be, and I thought that any deal with Putin was going to be pretty sordid.”

The donation from Harborne, moreover, came much later — in November 2022, after Johnson’s resignation that September. Harborne accompanied Johnson to Kyiv not during the April 2022 visit, but in September 2023, when Johnson traveled to Ukraine as a private citizen.

Portraying Harborne as a shadow “power broker” who prolonged the war for the sake of defense contracts is implausible. He is indeed a major shareholder in QinetiQ, a former branch of the UK Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, but hardly someone with influence over matters of war and peace. As The Guardian itself wrote:

“QinetiQ has interests in Ukraine, albeit not its biggest. Ukraine’s forces reportedly use the company’s Banshee drones and bomb-disposal robots. In April 2025, the UK Ministry of Defence announced QinetiQ would help Ukraine’s military make kit with 3D printers.”

It is difficult to imagine peace talks being sabotaged over a contract for a few hundred drones. The UK has supplied Ukraine with Banshee Jet 80+ kamikaze drones — small attack UAVs adapted from target drones used for pilot and air-defense training, roughly comparable to the Iranian Shahed-136 (known in Russia as the “Geran-2”). The number and cost of these drones have not been disclosed, but deliveries reportedly number in the hundreds under the tenure of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, well after Boris Johnson left Downing Street.