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A think-tank said to be behind a letter sent by Brexiteers Boris Johnson and Michael Gove urging Theresa May to take a tougher stance on EU talks has denied links to the Kremlin.

The letter was allegedly co-authored by Shanker Singham, the economics director at the Legatum Institute.

The group is partly funded by Christopher Chandler – who with brother Richard made a fortune in Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Mr Singham and Mr Gove were at a secret Commons seminar on Brexit on Friday, also attended by No 10 and US officials.

(Image: Reuters) (Image: PA)

Asked about his links with the Legatum Institute, Mr Gove said he had met one of the Chandler brothers once.

But he declined to comment on Friday’s meeting with Mr Singham, or Mr Singham’s role in the letter, saying: “The blessed sponge of amnesia wipes the memory slate clean.”

The Legatum Institute said: “The letter allegedly sent ... to the Prime Minister was not co-ordinated by Shanker Singham. Upon request, Shanker Singham provides advice to parliamentarians.”

(Image: PA)

It said it was “nonsense” to suggest it was helping to engineer a hard Brexit, adding: “We refute in the strongest possible terms the allegation that the Legatum Institute is aligned with, influenced by, or somehow connected to Vladimir Putin or the Russian state.”

But Labour’s Ben Bradshaw said: “As evidence of the extent of Russia’s cyber and propaganda war on Britain mounts, the Government cannot carry on with their ‘nothing to see here’ response.”