There is, for example, Igor Shuvalov. His name has been on the EU sanctions list for a week. Rationale: The former Russian Deputy Prime Minister “supports actions and policies that undermine the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine”. The United States has also imposed sanctions on Shuvalov, who is considered a confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin. So far, so clear. Only in Great Britain Shuvalov apparently has nothing to fear. His name is not on the sanctions list there. So the question is: why not?
The best place to start looking for answers is in the House of Commons. There, in the British House of Commons, this week Keir Starmer from the Labor Party wanted to know how that can be. The opposition leader asked Prime Minister Boris Johnson directly why Shuvalov’s name was not on the UK government’s sanctions list. After all, the Putin confidante has two apartments in London, worth more than eleven million pounds, Starmer said. Johnson didn’t elaborate further, saying only that the government is willing to sanction any person or company linked to Putin – but he would not say anything about individual cases.
This is the style of the British debate since Russia attacked Ukraine. In the case of oligarchs, Johnson initially announced decisive action. But the facts speak a different language: as of Thursday afternoon, the names of nine Russians were on the British sanctions list. There are now more than 25 on that of the European Union. No wonder that pressure is increasing on Johnson to expand the measures.
The latest idea: confiscate luxury properties and house people fleeing Ukraine in them
Basically, the Prime Minister would only have to walk his dog Dilyn for a walk to get an impression of Shuvalov’s footprints in London. It’s less than a ten-minute walk from Johnson’s official residence on Downing Street to Whitehall Court. Shuvalov’s luxury apartment is said to be located there in an imposing 19th-century building. At least that’s the conclusion reached by researchers working for the imprisoned Russian Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. The apartment is said to belong to the former Russian prime minister and his wife Olga. However, there is nothing about this in the British land register. In the so-called country registry is registered as an owner with an address in Moscow: Sova Real Estate LLC. According to Navalny’s associates, she is linked to Shuvalov.
In any case, the former Russian member of the government would not be the only one who owns a huge fortune in London. Nowhere in Western Europe is more Russian money stashed away than on the Thames. The British capital is therefore not entirely wrongly called Londongrad.
One can assume that Johnson is well aware of this image as the ex-mayor of the capital. And so he has instructed his ministers to come up with proposals designed to show the public that he is serious about fighting “dirty Russian money.” Secretary of State Liz Truss then announced that she would be compiling a “hit list” of oligarchs. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has ordered all British ports to be closed to Russian ships. And Housing Secretary Michael Gove has proposed confiscating the homes of sanctioned Russians and housing people fleeing Ukraine. However, experts doubt whether this is legally possible.
On the other hand, a plan by Home Secretary Priti Patel is quite concrete. She presented one this week Economic crime bill (Economic Crime Bill). The government wants to introduce a register that identifies the “beneficial owners” of land and real estate. Anonymous foreign owners would thus be obliged to disclose their identity. In this way, the government wants to prevent people from hiding their property behind shell companies that are registered in tax havens using offshore constructs.
Labor leader Starmer wants to support the government’s plan. However, he criticized that the new rules would only come into force a year and a half after the law was passed. And so he asked Johnson: “Why are we giving Putin’s cronies 18 months to calmly pull their money out of the UK property market and launder it in another safe haven?”