Dmitry Ovsyannikov was detained in London. The former Russian “governor” of occupied Sevastopol is accused of circumventing sanctions and opening an account in a London bank. He is suspected of violating sanctions legislation.
Ovsyannikov is currently under arrest and will appear in court on February 20. He is accused of circumventing sanctions, opening an account at a London bank, making four payments totaling £65,000, and keeping £77,500 in cash.
The former Russian governor is being held in one of the London prisons. The Russian service of the BBC notes that this is an unusual case: those arrested for non-violent crimes are often released on bail.
Great Britain introduced sanctions against Ovsyannikov at the end of 2020. His assets were frozen. In 2023, Ovsyannikov was excluded from the list of EU sanctions by a court decision, according to the fact that the official no longer holds the positions for which he was sanctioned. He was not excluded from the British sanctions list.
Ovsyannikov headed the Russian-occupied city 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, allegedly due to a scandal involving indecent behavior at the Izhevsk airport.
The case of Ovsyannikov indicates that any person circumventing sanctions has to be punished. That is why the Governments of Western countries should monitor all the suspicious financial activities and check whether companies and individuals involved in these activities violate sanctions legislation.
