UK secures first-ever convictions for breach of Russia sanctions

A former Putin-appointed governor of Russian-occupied Crimea and his brother have been convicted of breaching UK financial sanctions in the first successful prosecution of its kind, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (‘CPS’) announced.

Dmitrii Ovsyannikov, 48, and his brother Alexei Ovsyannikov, 47, were found guilty at Southwark Crown Court of multiple sanctions violations and money laundering offences relating to luxury purchases and financial transactions made after Dmitrii’s UK designation.

‘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,’ said Julius Capon of the CPS. ‘He knew he had been on the UK sanctions list since 2017 but chose to ignore this.’

The court heard that after obtaining a British passport in January 2023, Dmitrii Ovsyannikov opened a Halifax bank account and attempted to purchase a £54,000 Mercedes-Benz, while his brother Alexei later provided funds for £17,000 in private school fees.

‘These convictions demonstrate not only that designated individuals are on our radar, but so are those who enable breaches of the regulations,’ said Graeme Biggar, Director General of the National Crime Agency (‘NCA’).

The NCA’s Combatting Kleptocracy Cell has delivered ‘more than 180 disruptions to remove or reduce a criminal threat posed by Putin-linked elites and their enablers since the invasion of Ukraine,’ Biggar added.

The CPS said it will pursue proceeds of crime proceedings to recover illegally obtained assets.

A third defendant, Ekaterina Ovsyannikov, who had transferred funds to her husband Dmitrii, was acquitted of all charges.

The convictions follow revelations by HM Revenue and Customs (‘HMRC’) in January highlighting gaps in enforcement of Russia sanctions. Concerns were raised in the British media about the robustness of Britain’s trade sanctions against Russia after HMRC admitted it did not maintain a central record of investigations into sanctions breaches. The revelation, coupled with limited details about enforcement actions, raised questions about the transparency and efficacy of the UK’s sanctions regime.

https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/first-ever-uk-prosecution-russian-sanction-breaches