Who is Yevhen Murayev, named by UK as Kremlin's pick to lead Ukraine?

Murayev has promoted views that closely align with Russian narratives on Ukraine

Britain has accused the Kremlin of wanting to install a pro-Russian leader in Ukraine, and said Russian intelligence officers had been in contact with former Ukrainian politicians as part of plans for a military offensive.

Born in the eastern city of Kharkiv near the Russian border in 1976, Murayev is part of a group of politicians in opposition to the pro-Western leadership that took power after the 2014 Maidan street protests. In 2014-2019, Murayev was a lawmaker. He started in the Opposition Bloc faction, a party formed from fragments of the Moscow-backed Yanukovich's Party of Regions. 

In 2018, he launched another party