President Putin’s former spokesman is among elite Russian hunters who helped finance an expert group which was trying to stop Britain banning big-game hunting.
Sergey Yastrzhembsky, 68, is a prominent member of a mountain hunt club that brings together oligarchs, Kremlin-supporting politicians and ex-Russian special forces. The wealthy Russians have emerged as the financial backers of an international group that seeks to save trophy hunting by portraying it as a sustainable use of wildlife.
Yastrzhembsky is highlighted by MPs and lords today in the world’s largest inquiry by parliament into the trophy-hunting industry.
The government is committed to banning the import of animal parts such as heads and hides from thousands of species killed as trophies. The clampdown will damage the safari-hunting industry, some
