Former Russian minister jailed for breaching UK sanctions
A former Kremlin minister has become the first person to be convicted and jailed for breaching Britain's sanctions on Russia.
Dmitrii Ovsiannikov, who was Vladimir Putin's deputy minister for industry and trade between 2015 and 2016, was sentenced to nearly three and a half years in prison after his wife transferred £76,000 into a British bank account when he knew he was prohibited from doing so.
The 48-year-old also served as the governor of Sevastopol, in Russian-occupied Crimea, between 2017 and 2019, before his expulsion from Russia's ruling party in 2020. His assets were frozen by the EU and the UK in November 2017.
He resigned from his position as governor in July 2019 and later travelled to Turkey from Russia, where he applied for a British passport. This was granted in January 2023 because his father was born in the UK.
Alexei Owsjanikow, 47, Ovsiannikov's brother, was spared jail after being convicted of two counts of circumventing sanctions by paying school fees of £41,027 for Ovsiannikov's children.
He was sentenced to 15 months in prison, suspended for 15 months, and was previously cleared of a further three counts of breaching sanctions including buying a Mercedes-Benz worth £54,500 and arranging car insurance for Ovsiannikov.
Ovsiannikov's wife Ekaterina, who watched the hearing from the public gallery, was previously cleared of four counts of circumventing sanctions by assisting with payments totalling £76,000 to her husband in February 2023.
The brothers brought packed bags into the dock in case of a custodial sentence.
The jury at Southwark Crown Court failed to reach a verdict on the charge that Ovsiannikov deliberately avoided sanctions by opening the Halifax account.
Julius Capon, of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: 'The sanctions regime was introduced against key individuals in an attempt to encourage Russia to cease military actions in foreign countries because it was hoped those with power will be hampered in doing their normal international business dealings.
'Dmitrii Ovsyannikov was a high-profile official who was appointed by President Vladimir Putin as the governor of Sevastopol after Crimea was illegally annexed by Russia. He knew he had been on the UK sanctions list since 2017, but choose to ignore this.
'Another member of his family sought deliberately to breach the sanctions to live their own lavish lifestyle and show complete disregard for the law. We hope this send a clear message that the CPS and National Crime Agency investigators will work closely together to robustly seek the convictions of sanction busters.
'We will start proceeds of crime proceedings to get back illegally obtained cash and assets.'
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