Russia’s ambassador to the United Kingdom was invited to attend last week’s 2026 HSBC Championship at Queen’s Club in West London, City AM has revealed.
Andrey Kelin, Vladimir Putin’s chief diplomat in the UK since 2019, was photographed at the prestigious private tennis club during the Wimbledon precursor tournament.
Kelin was part of a group of guests invited by Mikhail Ignatiev, a former concierge service and tourism operator founder who worked with Russian investors travelling to the UK.
The group is understood to have been seated in the President’s Room hospitality suite, which costs more than £500 per person per visit.
The suite offers guests access to a bar, champagne reception and a three-course lunch, making it among the most exclusive hospitality offerings at the venue.
A profile page for Ignatiev states that his companies operate across the UK, Monaco, Dubai and Ukraine, and that he also founded a “premier Slavic wellness spa” on a man-made island in Dubai.
Kelin’s attendance at Queen’s Club was first shared online by Bill Browder, formerly one of the largest foreign investors in Russia, who now leads international campaigns against corruption under Putin.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, scores of Russian oligarchs and businessmen have faced sanctions from the UK, US and European Union.
Sanctioned figures including former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, metals tycoon Oleg Deripaska and ex-Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov have all departed the UK in the years since.
Following the Novichok poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury in 2018, the UK expelled more than 150 diplomats, with further expulsions taking place after the invasion of Ukraine.
Kelin, however, has remained in the UK and has served as a key spokesperson for Russia’s position on the war across numerous media interviews in recent years.
Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, described it as “wholly wrong” for Kelin to be “invited to hobnob at Queen’s while Ukraine continues to face unprovoked aggression from Russia.”
Patel urged Queen’s Club to take action to prevent Kelin from returning, stating: “We must stand firm with Ukraine and send a clear message that Russia’s conduct will not be tolerated.”
The Russian embassy, Ignatiev and Queen’s Club did not respond to requests for comment, and the Foreign Office also declined to comment on the matter.