The UK and US have imposed new sanctions on Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov and Cypriot “financial fixers” who allegedly help him hide his assets, as well as those
of fellow Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. The move comes as part of a continued effort to restrict the activities of powerful individuals accused of supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin and his military campaign in Ukraine. The US has also imposed sanctions on companies in Hong Kong, Turkey and the UAE which it claims are selling drones and electronics to Russia’s defence sector, including US-made semiconductors. The State Department named Chinese company Head Aerospace Technology as selling satellite imagery to Russia’s mercenary Wagner group and blacklisted Patriot PMC, another Russian private militia it says is connected to Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.
The UK and US have placed dozens of figures and companies tied to Usmanov and Abramovich on their financial blacklists. The US Treasury claims that Usmanov, who controls Metalloinvest and is estimated by Bloomberg to be worth $18.7bn, is close to Putin and Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian president and current deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council. Usmanov has a “wide network of businesses in financial safe-havens” which he uses, often with the help of family members, to move money that could evade sanctions, according to the US Treasury.
The UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has imposed sanctions on Cypriot “professional enablers” Demetris Ioannides and Christodoulos Vassiliades, who allegedly helped Abramovich and Usmanov avoid western controls. Ioannides crafted “murky offshore structures” that Abramovich allegedly used to hide over £760m in assets before being sanctioned last year, while Vassiliades developed trusts and offshore companies used by Usmanov, the US government said. Washington also added a third Cypriot fixer, Demetrios Serghides, to its sanctions blacklist, claiming that he helped Usmanov and his family to purchase and manage assets such as real estate.
The FCDO’s latest tranche of sanctions also targets family members of oligarchs who are used as “proxies to hide their assets”. These include Ukrainian TV presenter Oksana Marchenko, whose husband Viktor Medvedchuk is a former lawmaker who was sent to Russia alongside his spouse in a prisoner swap last year. Both the UK and US sanctions bodies have also added other Russian tycoons and their families to their blacklists, including Andrei Skoch and telecoms billionaire Vladimir Evtushenkov.
“We are closing the net on the Russian elite and those who try to help them hide their money for war,” stated Foreign Secretary James Cleverly. “As the Kremlin seeks ways around the expansive multilateral sanctions and export controls imposed on Russia for its war against Ukraine, the United States and our allies and partners will continue to disrupt evasion schemes that support Putin on the battlefield,” said US Treasury Under Secretary Brian Nelson. Cleverly added: “Together with our international partners, the UK will continue to crack down on those who are supporting the war. We won't stop until Putin does.” Photo by Kremlin.ru, Wikimedia commons.