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Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former Russian minister ‘shocked' to learn he was subject to sanctions in UK
A former Russian minister told police he was shocked to learn he was subject to sanctions in the UK, a court has heard. Dmitrii Ovsiannikov, 48, the former mayor of Sevastopol in illegally annexed Crimea, is facing seven counts of circumventing sanctions between February 2023 and January 2024. He is said to have deliberately avoided sanctions by opening a Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) account on or before February 2023 and having tens of thousands of pounds transferred to it by his wife, Ekaterina Ovsiannikova, 47. Ovsiannikova is facing four counts of breaching sanctions by assisting with the payments. Ovsiannikov's brother, Alexei Owsjanikow, 47, has denied circumventing sanctions to buy him a Mercedes Benz worth £54,500, as well as spending £41,027 on fees at the Royal Russell School in Surrey for Ovsiannikov's children. Body-worn footage played to the jury showed National Crime Agency (NCA) officers arresting Ovsiannikov in a residential street on January 22 2024 on suspicion of breaching UK financial sanctions. During an interview he answered no comment, before telling officers that he 'hoped no one knew that he had left Russia and he had spent a number of years' making it possible to leave, prosecutor Lyndon Harris summarised at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday. The EU designated Ovsiannikov on November 21 2017, restricting him from entering and accessing funds in member states. It said his work had compromised or threatened the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. EU sanctions ceased to apply in the UK after Brexit and the country created its own regime, the Russia Regulations 2019. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) designated Ovsiannikov under the Russia Regulations in December 2020 and he remains a designated person. His name was on the UK Sanctions List public website from December 31 that year. At that time he did not have a British passport. On August 1 2022, Ovsiannikov travelled from Russia to Turkey and three days later applied online for a UK passport. It was issued in January and he arrived in the UK on February 1 2023. That month, he was removed from the EU sanctions list following a previous ruling by the the Court of Justice of the European Union. On February 7, he emailed the FCDO a form to review his sanctions in the UK. In March, solicitors Peters and Peters LLP wrote to the same Government office on his behalf about his designation. During the January 2024 NCA interview, which Ovsiannikov elected to do without a Russian translator, he suggested he had thought he was no longer a designated person in the UK. A transcript was read to jurors, in which Ovsiannikov said: 'I believed one year ago that the decision in the European Union, when you were inside the European Union when I applied, and (the) European Court said that my designation was unlawful since September 2020, when the United Kingdom was the member of the (European) Union (sic). 'And when I came I found out, it was a shock for me, I didn't know'. He was asked what he gave for the good character requirement on his UK visa application, and responded he was 'not a criminal and was a positive person for the United Kingdom', Mr Harris told jurors. He declined to give the pin for either of his phones, stating that they contained privileged legal information. An investigating NCA officer, who gave evidence behind a screen and was given the alias Alex, told jurors that officers worked out the Pin for one device using CCTV to see where Ovsiannikov tapped the screen. Most of the uncovered messages between him and Ovsiannikova were about their children and 'ordinary household matters'. There were none before March 8 2023 about Ovsiannikov being subject to an asset freeze or being unable to bank in the UK. Messages did not mention concerns about whether he could enter the UK or how they would live while he was designated. Ovsiannikova was questioned voluntarily about her involvement in the alleged offences eight days later. She described being 'horrified' by the situation and denied knowing her husband was at the time subject to sanctions. 'I was aware my husband had been sanctioned but this had been overturned in the EU, and I had no knowledge that he was subject to an asset freeze in the UK and I don't think he knew either', she said. Halifax bank notified her in March 2023 that it would close her account, she told officers. She added that she was able to move some funds but had 'a few thousand pounds remaining' which she withdrew in cash for day-to-day living expenses such as food and clothes. Ovsiannikova said 'I'm really upset about this situation and the impact on my children', adding that she would never have transferred funds to her husband 'if I wasn't allowed to', the court heard. The trial continues.
The Independent
25-03-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Former Russian minister ‘shocked' to learn he was subject to sanctions in UK
A former Russian minister told police he was shocked to learn he was subject to sanctions in the UK, a court has heard. Dmitrii Ovsiannikov, 48, the former mayor of Sevastopol in illegally annexed Crimea, is facing seven counts of circumventing sanctions between February 2023 and January 2024. He is said to have deliberately avoided sanctions by opening a Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) account on or before February 2023 and having tens of thousands of pounds transferred to it by his wife, Ekaterina Ovsiannikova, 47. Ovsiannikova is facing four counts of breaching sanctions by assisting with the payments. Ovsiannikov's brother, Alexei Owsjanikow, 47, has denied circumventing sanctions to buy him a Mercedes Benz worth £54,500, as well as spending £41,027 on fees at the Royal Russell School in Surrey for Ovsiannikov's children. Body-worn footage played to the jury showed National Crime Agency (NCA) officers arresting Ovsiannikov in a residential street on January 22 2024 on suspicion of breaching UK financial sanctions. During an interview he answered no comment, before telling officers that he 'hoped no one knew that he had left Russia and he had spent a number of years' making it possible to leave, prosecutor Lyndon Harris summarised at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday. The EU designated Ovsiannikov on November 21 2017, restricting him from entering and accessing funds in member states. It said his work had compromised or threatened the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. EU sanctions ceased to apply in the UK after Brexit and the country created its own regime, the Russia Regulations 2019. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) designated Ovsiannikov under the Russia Regulations in December 2020 and he remains a designated person. His name was on the UK Sanctions List public website from December 31 that year. At that time he did not have a British passport. On August 1 2022, Ovsiannikov travelled from Russia to Turkey and three days later applied online for a UK passport. It was issued in January and he arrived in the UK on February 1 2023. That month, he was removed from the EU sanctions list following a previous ruling by the the Court of Justice of the European Union. On February 7, he emailed the FCDO a form to review his sanctions in the UK. In March, solicitors Peters and Peters LLP wrote to the same Government office on his behalf about his designation. During the January 2024 NCA interview, which Ovsiannikov elected to do without a Russian translator, he suggested he had thought he was no longer a designated person in the UK. A transcript was read to jurors, in which Ovsiannikov said: 'I believed one year ago that the decision in the European Union, when you were inside the European Union when I applied, and (the) European Court said that my designation was unlawful since September 2020, when the United Kingdom was the member of the (European) Union (sic). 'And when I came I found out, it was a shock for me, I didn't know'. He was asked what he gave for the good character requirement on his UK visa application, and responded he was 'not a criminal and was a positive person for the United Kingdom', Mr Harris told jurors. He declined to give the pin for either of his phones, stating that they contained privileged legal information. An investigating NCA officer, who gave evidence behind a screen and was given the alias Alex, told jurors that officers worked out the Pin for one device using CCTV to see where Ovsiannikov tapped the screen. Most of the uncovered messages between him and Ovsiannikova were about their children and 'ordinary household matters'. There were none before March 8 2023 about Ovsiannikov being subject to an asset freeze or being unable to bank in the UK. Messages did not mention concerns about whether he could enter the UK or how they would live while he was designated. Ovsiannikova was questioned voluntarily about her involvement in the alleged offences eight days later. She described being 'horrified' by the situation and denied knowing her husband was at the time subject to sanctions. 'I was aware my husband had been sanctioned but this had been overturned in the EU, and I had no knowledge that he was subject to an asset freeze in the UK and I don't think he knew either', she said. Halifax bank notified her in March 2023 that it would close her account, she told officers. She added that she was able to move some funds but had 'a few thousand pounds remaining' which she withdrew in cash for day-to-day living expenses such as food and clothes. Ovsiannikova said 'I'm really upset about this situation and the impact on my children', adding that she would never have transferred funds to her husband 'if I wasn't allowed to', the court heard. The trial continues.
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former Putin-appointed governor on trial for breaching UK sanctions
A man who President Vladimir Putin appointed as the Governor of Sevastopol after Crimea was illegally annexed by Russia has gone on trial accused of breaching UK financial sanctions against him. Dmitrii Ovsiannikov is accused of receiving more than £75,000 from his wife Ekaterina Ovsiannikova and a new Mercedes Benz SUV from his brother Alexei Owsjanikow. Between them, the three defendants face ten charges of breaching the sanctions, and two charges of money laundering. They deny all the charges. Dmitrii held a senior position in Crimea for three years and the court heard he was also Russia's Deputy Minister for Industry and Trade. Two years after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, President Vladimir Putin appointed Dmitrii Ovsiannikov as acting governor of the "strategically significant" city of Sevastopol in Crimea, the jury were told. In 2017, elections were held there for the position of governor and Mr Ovsiannikov won. Paul Jarvis, for the prosecution, said he "was an important political figure within the Russian Federation" though Dmitrii Ovsiannikov later resigned from the position in July 2019. As a result of his senior job in illegally-annexed Crimea, the EU imposed financial sanctions on Mr Ovsiannikov saying that among other things he had "called for Sevastopol to become the southern capital of the Russian Federation." When the UK left the EU, the UK imposed financial sanctions on him too. He later challenged the EU sanctions and had them lifted, but the UK sanctions still apply. They are called the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. The regulations make it a criminal offence to try to get round the sanctions. The trial is the first criminal case involving the breach of the Russia Regulations. In August 2022, Dmitrii Ovsiannikov travelled to Turkey from Russia and applied for a British passport. Despite the fact that the UK sanctions still applied, the jury heard that he was granted a passport in January 2023, which he was entitled to because his father was born in the UK. Mr Jarvis said: "The father of Dmitrii and Alexei had been born in Bradford, United Kingdom, in 1950. Their mother was Russian. Dmitrii and Alexei hold British passports by virtue of their father being a British citizen." Dmitrii Ovsiannikov then arrived in Britain on 1 February 2023, moving into his brother's house in Clapham, where his wife and two younger children were already living and attending private school. On 6 February, Dmitrii Ovsiannikov applied for a Halifax bank account, saying on the form that he was single, but also saying that he was living in Clapham with his wife. Over the next two and a half weeks Ekaterina Ovsiannikova transferred £76,000 into her husband's account allowing him to put down a deposit on a Mercedes Benz GLC 300 SUV. However, the bank later realised he was on the UK sanctions list and froze the account. After this, he went back to the dealership and recovered his deposit. His brother Alexei Owsjanikow bought the car instead, paying more than £54,000 the prosecution said. The prosecution say that when Mr Ovsiannikov's wife sent him the £76,000 and his brother bought the car they were in breach of the Russia Regulations. Mr Jarvis told the jury that "they maintain that they either did not know that Dmitrii was a designated person or they did not realise that as a designated person he was not permitted to receive that type of help". He also added that Dmitrii Ovsiannikov must have known he was subject to UK sanctions, because on 7 February 2023 he was applying for them to be lifted and had included his unique ID number and group ID number from his sanctions listing on the form. Speaking to the jury, Mr Jarvis said that this showed that Mr Ovsiannikov was aware of the sanctions "and he must have made his nearest and dearest aware of that too". In January 2024 all three defendants were arrested and interviewed by police. Four months later, Alexei Owsjanikow paid more than £40,000 in school fees for his brother's two youngest children who were at the Royal Russell School in Croydon - also a breach of the sanctions. Paul Jarvis told the jury that in a police interview Alexei accepted that he had paid the school fees, but he maintained that the payments did not amount to a breach of the Russian Regulations because he believed that Ekaterina was solely responsible for those fees and not Dmitrii. The trial is expected to continue at Southwark Crown Court for three weeks.
BBC News
18-03-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Former Putin-appointed governor on trial for breaching UK sanctions
A man who President Vladimir Putin appointed as the Governor of Sevastopol after Crimea was illegally annexed by Russia has gone on trial accused of breaching UK financial sanctions against Ovsiannikov is accused of receiving more than £75,000 from his wife Ekaterina Ovsiannikova and a new Mercedes Benz SUV from his brother Alexei them, the three defendants face ten charges of breaching the sanctions, and two charges of money laundering. They deny all the charges. Dmitrii held a senior position in Crimea for three years and the court heard he was also Russia's Deputy Minister for Industry and Trade. Two years after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, President Vladimir Putin appointed Dmitrii Ovsiannikov as acting governor of the "strategically significant" city of Sevastopol in Crimea, the jury were 2017, elections were held there for the position of governor and Mr Ovsiannikov Jarvis, for the prosecution, said he "was an important political figure within the Russian Federation" though Dmitrii Ovsiannikov later resigned from the position in July a result of his senior job in illegally-annexed Crimea, the EU imposed financial sanctions on Mr Ovsiannikov saying that among other things he had "called for Sevastopol to become the southern capital of the Russian Federation."When the UK left the EU, the UK imposed financial sanctions on him too. He later challenged the EU sanctions and had them lifted, but the UK sanctions still are called the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. The regulations make it a criminal offence to try to get round the trial is the first criminal case involving the breach of the Russia Regulations. In August 2022, Dmitrii Ovsiannikov travelled to Turkey from Russia and applied for a British the fact that the UK sanctions still applied, the jury heard that he was granted a passport in January 2023, which he was entitled to because his father was born in the Jarvis said: "The father of Dmitrii and Alexei had been born in Bradford, United Kingdom, in 1950. Their mother was Russian. Dmitrii and Alexei hold British passports by virtue of their father being a British citizen."Dmitrii Ovsiannikov then arrived in Britain on 1 February 2023, moving into his brother's house in Clapham, where his wife and two younger children were already living and attending private school. On 6 February, Dmitrii Ovsiannikov applied for a Halifax bank account, saying on the form that he was single, but also saying that he was living in Clapham with his the next two and a half weeks Ekaterina Ovsiannikova transferred £76,000 into her husband's account allowing him to put down a deposit on a Mercedes Benz GLC 300 the bank later realised he was on the UK sanctions list and froze the this, he went back to the dealership and recovered his deposit. His brother Alexei Owsjanikow bought the car instead, paying more than £54,000 the prosecution prosecution say that when Mr Ovsiannikov's wife sent him the £76,000 and his brother bought the car they were in breach of the Russia Jarvis told the jury that "they maintain that they either did not know that Dmitrii was a designated person or they did not realise that as a designated person he was not permitted to receive that type of help".He also added that Dmitrii Ovsiannikov must have known he was subject to UK sanctions, because on 7 February 2023 he was applying for them to be lifted and had included his unique ID number and group ID number from his sanctions listing on the form. Speaking to the jury, Mr Jarvis said that this showed that Mr Ovsiannikov was aware of the sanctions "and he must have made his nearest and dearest aware of that too". In January 2024 all three defendants were arrested and interviewed by months later, Alexei Owsjanikow paid more than £40,000 in school fees for his brother's two youngest children who were at the Royal Russell School in Croydon - also a breach of the Jarvis told the jury that in a police interview Alexei accepted that he had paid the school fees, but he maintained that the payments did not amount to a breach of the Russian Regulations because he believed that Ekaterina was solely responsible for those fees and not trial is expected to continue at Southwark Crown Court for three weeks.
