Two members of the British Parliament were among 50 people who attended a party last month hosted by Russia’s ambassador to Britain at his luxury residence in west London to mark the moment Russia became independent from the Soviet Union, The Guardian reported.

Russian Ambassador Andriy Kelin spoke at the event, trying to justify his country’s bloody invasion of Ukraine, and conservative Lord Balfe and Lord Skidelsky were among those present.

An account of the event published by the Sunday Times included photographs of Kelin, who was barred from entering the British Parliament, speaking to an audience of about 50 people, including Russian embassy staff, foreign diplomats and several Britons.

Kelin is reported to have said that “in order to develop normally, Russia must first deal with significant threats to its security” – a clear reference to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine last February, which aimed to topple the government elected by President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The ambassador also accused Great Britain of a “big strategic mistake” by taking part in a confrontational approach to Moscow.

Britain, along with other Western countries, has strongly supported Ukraine, providing arms and aid since the start of the war to help Kyiv restore internationally recognized borders.

Balfe confirmed to The Guardian that he was present at the event, where he said he had a cursory conversation with the Russian defense attaché. He said he believed that eventually a negotiated settlement would have to be reached in which Ukraine would cede part of its territory to Russia.

“Ukraine is, to be honest, a disaster of a country. It was assembled by Churchill and Stalin at the end of World War II,” he said.

He added that, in his opinion, “Crimea is unequivocally Russian” and that Moscow has legitimate claims to Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and negotiations should be conducted on the land corridor to Crimea.

Balfe is a former Labor MEP who defected to the Conservatives in 2002 and has a history of Russian sympathies. During the crisis surrounding the Skripal poisoning in 2018, Balfe supported calls for Russia to investigate the nerve agent used.

Skidelsky, an economist and member of parliament who has been a member of the Conservatives, the Labor Party and the SDP, said he had opposed the Russian invasion of Ukraine but had come because he “wanted to express my respect and commitment to the Russian people on the occasion of their national day, especially under these circumstances.”

He was also a non-executive director of the Russian oil company Russneft from 2016 to 2021. Shortly after Moscow’s invasion, he wrote a letter condemning the move, but also questioned why the West had not committed itself. that NATO will not expand to Ukraine.