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Former MEP Nathan Gill sentenced to 10½ years for accepting payments to make pro‑Russia statements

Nathan Gill, 52, has been sentenced to ten and a half years after pleading guilty to eight counts of bribery for accepting payments to make pro‑Russia statements in the European Parliament between December 2018 and July 2019. The judge at the Old Bailey said he acted "in exchange for the improper execution of (his) public duties" and promoted narratives beneficial to Russian interests regarding Ukraine. Gill was stopped at Manchester Airport in September 2021 and was formally charged in February. He served as an MEP from 2014 until Britain left the EU in 2020.

09:16 PM, 11/21/2025Politics

Nathan Gill, 52, a former member of the European Parliament and ex‑leader of the Welsh branch of Reform U.K., was sentenced on Friday to ten and a half years in prison after admitting he accepted payments to make favourable statements about Russia in the European Parliament.

Gill pleaded guilty earlier this year to eight counts of bribery for conduct said to have taken place between December 2018 and July 2019. Prosecutors allege he was instructed by former Ukrainian politician Oleg Voloshyn to deliver favourable statements in return for payments.

At the sentencing hearing at London’s Central Criminal Court, widely known as the Old Bailey, Justice Bobbie Cheema‑Grubb said Gill had accepted money "in exchange for the improper execution of (his) public duties" and had "advanced narratives advantageous to Russian interests concerning Ukraine."

"He accepted money in exchange for the improper execution of his public duties," the judge said, emphasising that the conduct had promoted narratives beneficial to Russian interests regarding Ukraine.

Gill was stopped at Manchester Airport in September 2021 under British counterterrorism powers. Following an investigation, he was formally charged in February. He was first elected as an MEP in 2014 for the U.K. Independence Party, later represented the Brexit Party, and served in the European Parliament until Britain left the EU in 2020.

He led the Welsh branch of Reform U.K. during the 2021 Welsh elections but is no longer a member of the party, which has confirmed his departure.

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