Former Sevastopol mayor dmitry ovsyannikov arrested in London for sanctions circumvention and fraud - The Times
Kyiv • UNN
A former russian official has been detained in London on charges of violating British sanctions and money laundering. He is currently under arrest and awaiting trial in prison.
The former governor of the temporarily occupied Sevastopol and former Deputy Minister of Industry of russia dmitry ovsyannikov was detained in London. According to The Times, he is suspected of violating sanctions legislation, UNN reports.
Details
The former russian official was detained by the National Crime Agency (NCA) at his London home. He is currently being held in a London prison, has arrested status and will appear in court on February 20.
The British Serious Fraud Office has charged ovsyannikov with sanctions violations and money laundering. He reportedly opened an account with a London bank and made at least four payments totaling £65,000, and kept £77,500 in cash obtained through criminal means.
ovsyannikov is a sanctioned person in the UK, which imposes restrictions on his access to money and financial services
The UK imposed sanctions on ovsiannikov at the end of 2020. His assets were frozen. In March 2022, a ban on the use of trust services was added.
In 2017, the European Union also sanctioned ovsiannikov for "actions that threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine." But in the fall of 2022, a few months after russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he managed to get the restrictions lifted. He stated that he had not held public office for a long time and was suffering "real losses" due to the sanctions, including the inability to do business in the European Union.
In 2023, ovsyannikov was removed from the EU sanctions list by a decision of the EU court. The court reasoned that the official no longer holds the positions for which he was sanctioned.
He was not removed from the British sanctions list.
ovsyannikov headed the temporarily occupied Sevastopol from 2017 to 2019. Before and after that, he was the russian Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade. In 2020, he was removed from his post and dismissed from the government. According to the media, the reason was a scandal with indecent behavior at one of the russian airports. An administrative report was drawn up against him and he was fined, and later he was removed from his post as deputy minister and expelled from the ruling party.
