Corbyn's ex-Communist top adviser is banned from entering the Ukraine for three years after intelligence officials brand him a national security risk 'over links to Putin'

Jeremy Corbyn's most influential Commons adviser has been barred from entering Ukraine on the grounds that he is a national security threat because of his alleged links to Vladimir Putin's 'global propaganda network'. Former communist Andrew Murray, Mr Corbyn's chief political adviser, was slapped with the three-year ban in June on the advice of the country's security service, the SBU. But last night Mr Murray, who has played a key role in a campaign to support pro-Moscow separatists in Ukraine, angrily denied being part of any 'so-called propaganda network'.

The extraordinary development comes after it was revealed that Mr Murray has been working in the Labour leader's office for the past year without security clearance as the Commons authorities have failed to grant his request for a pass. The Mail on Sunday has been told by a senior Parliamentary source that Mr Murray's authorisation has been held up by 'vetting problems'. Commons security advisers take their decision based on advice from Government agencies, including the police and intelligence sources, and passes are usually issued within a few weeks.

Mr Murray, who was a member of the Communist party for 40 years, helped to launch a campaign in 2014 called Solidarity With The Antifascist Resistance In Ukraine (SARU) to protest at the West's backing of the Kiev regime. Russia made its first incursions into Ukrainian territory that year. After President Putin annexed Crimea and backed pro-Moscow separatist forces in the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, Mr Murray used SARU events to describe the conflict as 'a war waged by the Kiev government' against 'peoples exercising their right to self-rule'.

Instead of blaming Putin's regime for the bloodshed, Mr Murray has pointed the finger at the pro-Western Kiev government for obeying the 'dictates' of the EU and Nato.

He also questioned whether Moscow was responsible for the shooting down of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew, over Eastern Ukraine in that year.

This newspaper spoke to a serving SBU officer in Kiev this weekend who claimed that Mr Murray had been put on the banned list because he was 'regarded as being part of Putin's global propaganda network, peddling Russian lies, particularly about Crimea and the war in Eastern Ukraine'.

He added: 'It is extremely unusual for us to ban anyone from entering the country, especially a Briton.

'It is not a step we take lightly and it means he is considered a potential threat to our national security.'

In a formal statement, the SBU said: 'We made a decision to ban the entrance of the citizen of Great Britain [Mr Murray] starting from June 2018 for 3 years based on the law of Ukraine about the legal state of foreign citizens ... in order to insure the national security of Ukraine'.

Mr Murray, the chief of staff to Len McCluskey at the Unite union, is on secondment to Mr Corbyn's office, where sources said he wields 'significant influence'. Mr Murray only left the British Communist party to join Labour when Mr Corbyn took over as leader in 2016. He has defended the Russian tyrant Stalin, suggesting his regime was better than living in the West, and expressed 'solidarity' with North Korea.

Mr Corbyn, whose socialist beliefs came under close scrutiny earlier this year when he initially questioned the Government's belief that the Kremlin was responsible for poisoning former Russian double-agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, relies heavily on Mr Murray for advice and has praised his 'enormous abilities'.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6171969/Corbyns-ex-Communist-adviser-banned-entering-Ukraine-three-years.html

I am seriously contemplating moving to Ireland, if these idiots gain power. As I believe it will be a disaster for the country.