The Interesting And Disturbing Case of Nathan Gill

Washington Dulles

Our interesting and disturbing case begins in July 2021, when FBI agents stop a certain Mr Oleg Voloshyn at Washington Dulles Airport. The agents extract WhatsApp messages from Mr Voloshyn’s phone, which show payments made to a Nathan Gill. For context, Mr Voloshyn is a Ukrainian involved with opposition media in that country. Seven years before being apprehended, the Euromaidan Revolution in his homeland ousted a pro-Russian president, leading to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the start of a conflict with separatists in the Donbas region.

By summer 2021, the situation was a prolonged, “frozen” conflict of low-intensity fighting. The President of Ukraine was now Volodymyr Zelensky, who began sanctioning and closing down opposition media, including that of Oleg Voloshyn. Two months following the encounter in Washington, in September of the same year, counter-terrorism police arrested Gill at Manchester Airport under Counter-Terrorism and Border Security legislation. His phone and other electronic devices are seized in what the police describes as a counter-terrorism-related investigation.

There, they found messages between him and Voloshyn, which showed an apparent agreement. Gill accepted money on at least eight occasions to express an opinion favourable to the Ukrainian opposition. Various payments totalling in excess of £10,000 recieve a mention in WhatsApp.

Who is Nathan Gill?

An imposing figure at 6’4”, Hullovian Nathan Gill is a teetotaller and former Mormon bishop. The father of five was in the care home business, both in his native Hull and in Anglesey, where he made his family home. When the business came to an end in 2008 under the weight of six-digit debts, the quietly spoken 52-year-old moved into politics, becoming a UKIP MEP following the 2014 European Parliamentary election. Two years later, he entered to the Cardiff Senedd to represent the North Wales region.

All the while, he was climbing the Brussels ladder. By the EU parliamentary session of July 2019 to January 2020, Gill was a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Subcommittee on Human Rights, the Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee, and the Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly. His declaration of financial interests included the rather grand Gill Enterprises, a board membership at the Centre for Wales Studies, and editorial board memberships of 112 Ukraine International and NewsOne International. He claimed these positions were unpaid.

112 Ukraine and NewsOne refer to opposition-aligned Ukrainian television channels. Closed down by Zelensky, these were associated with Voloshyn, who appeared as a commentator and guest in his role as a member of the anti-Zelensky Opposition Platform for Life (OPFL) party. As a eurosceptic, and with talk at the time of Euromaidan of Ukraine becoming an accession (to the EU) country, one can understand a common interest between Gill and Voloshyn.

A Gill influence?

As for Gill’s possible influence on the European Parliament on behalf of Voloshyn, even The Guardian newspaper refers to it as “subtle”. Near non-existent might be a more accurate description. In fact, Gill made only one relevant contribution from within the EU debating chamber. On 9 October 2019, in a Situation in Ukraine debate, Gill stated:

Mr President, Article 19 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression. This includes the right to receive and impart information and ideas through any media, regardless of frontiers. Every dictatorship and repressive regime immediately seeks to close down the freedom of the press and media, thinking foolishly that they can silence opposition. Ukraine’s previous president, Petro Poroshenko, tried, using legal process, to silence media that did not act as his mouthpiece. This was condemned and it failed.

Ukraine has a new president, Volodymyr Zelensky, who is following the same old tired pattern. Despite claiming to be different, he has used legal process to strip TV stations of their licences and is threatening those he does not like. Ms Mogherini [the then EU foreign affairs high representative], are you content to remain silent and allow this repression of freedom? Or are you going to use your influence with President Zelensky to protect the freedom of the press?

An anodine comment as critical of Voloshyn-supported Poroshenko as of Zelensky. No matter, early 2025 saw Gill charged with serious offences: one count of conspiracy to commit bribery (under the Criminal Law Act 1977) and eight counts of bribery (under the Bribery Act 2010).

The court case

According to the prosecution, between 6 December 2018 and 18 July 2019, Gill agreed to receive a financial advantage (i.e. money) in exchange for making specific statements and performing functions in his role as an MEP that would benefit a Russian narrative regarding events in Ukraine. The case rests on the Bribery Act 2010, which criminalises the offering or acceptance of a bribe in connection with the performance of a function by a public office-holder.

The offence requires the person to have agreed to receive (or have accepted) a financial or other advantage as an inducement or reward for them performing improperly in their role. In Gill’s case, the “improper performance” relates to his role as an elected MEP making statements and acting in his capacity which are alleged to have been influenced by payment.

In a court hearing in September 2025, Gill entered a guilty plea on eight counts of bribery, admitting the “full facts” as disclosed by the Crown. He did not plead guilty to the conspiracy to commit bribery charge, which has been allowed to lie on file. A sentencing hearing will take place at the Old Bailey on 21 November.

Elsewhere, Voloshyn, now living in exile in Russia, claims Gill is the victim of geo-political manoeuvring. Rather than being bribed, he was paid for media appearances, in much the same way a procession of British politicians received payment from Russia Today.

Compared to the vast amounts of money taken by London MPs, the sums and influence involved apear trivial. Labour’s Barry Gardiner received over £420,000 from a Chinese agent, Christine Lee. According to the Every Doctor website, between 2023–2025, when still in opposition, Health Secretary Wes Streeting accepted £224,575 in donations connected to the private health/health-recruitment sector. Earlier this week, reports informed us that Lisa Nandy, the Minister of Culture, Media and Sport, appointed one of her donors, David Kogan, to head a new football regulatory body.

Causes for concern

Formerly aligned with Russia and once part of the Soviet Union, Ukrainians are under no obligation to be enthusiastic about Zelensky, the EU or a particular type of WWII Ukrainian nationalism practised by the likes of the Azov Brigade.

This week it was also reported that Alex Salmond died penniless after fighting a series of vexatious legal cases. We also discovered that, although acquitted of nonsensical terror-related charges, Tommy Robinson was only able to defend himself after Elon Musk picked up the legal bill. Therefore, the suspicion must linger that Mr Gill might have pleaded guilty to avoid financial ruin and after being leaned on and given kind of false promises administered to the summer 2024 anti-immigration protestors. Given the guilty pleas – convenient to the establishment – the evidence against him will not be tested in court.

Bearing in mind that the alleged offences took place during the ‘frozen war’ involving Donbas separatists and well before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Mr Gill may well feel hard done by. Also, those opposed to the EU have every right to recognise a common interest with like-minded people in possible accession countries.

As for the geo-political Great Game, closer to home Gill’s predicament has been put to use in domestic politics. Despite Gill being a UKIP and Brexit Party MEP, The Guardian newspaper runs the headline ‘Reform UK, the Russian spy and rolls of Kremlin cash: the inside story of Nathan Gill’. A near-hysterical Victoria Derbyshire, when interviewing Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf on BBC Newsnight, asks, ‘Is there anyone else in your party who could be taking bribes from pro-Russian politicians?’

No matter what the rights and wrongs of the interesting and disturbing case of Nathan Gill, what Puffins can be certain of is that claims untested in court will be utilised in an endless mainstream media word association game aimed at damaging Reform UK.
 

© Always Worth Saying 2025