A Ukrainian politician on Saturday denied that the Kremlin was considering installing him as a pro-Kremlin puppet leader in Kyiv, dismissing the UK’s accusation as “stupidity and nonsense”.

Downing Street said it had information indicating that Moscow was “looking to install a pro-Russian leader in Kyiv” and named Yevhen Murayev, an up-and-coming pro-Russian politician, as a potential candidate.

The 45-year old former MP, who owns a television channel and founded his own political party after splitting off from Ukraine’s most popular pro-Russian party, told The Telegraph on Saturday that he was “amused” by the allegations.

“I have a hard time digesting stupidity and nonsense: Maybe someone wants to shut down yet another independent TV channel,” he said in a series of text messages.

“As someone who has been under Russian sanctions for four years, barred from Russia as a national security threat and whose father got his assets frozen in Russia, I find it hard to comment on the Foreign Office’s statement.”

‘Marginal’ figure causes a stir

Analysts were taken aback by the idea of Mr Murayev, a soft-spoken bespectacled man, as the Kremlin’s pick for a puppet government, with some describing him as a “marginal” figure.

Volodymyr Fesenko, a Kyiv-based political analyst, pointed out that Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian tycoon who counts Vladimir Putin as a personal friend, would be a more obvious choice. 

He said: “Medvdevchuk is definitely much closer to the Kremlin, and they treat him as one of their own.”

However, Mr Murayev “could be one of the people to seek roles in a new government in case Russia invades: Unfortunately, there are lots of people like Murayev who could form a fifth column in Ukraine.”