A former Russian politician appointed by Vladimir Putin “knew perfectly well” that he was subject to sanctions when he and his family opened a British bank account and paid school fees, a London jury has heard, in the first recent UK criminal prosecution over sanctions-busting.
There was “ample evidence” to show that Dmitrii Ovsiannikov — the former governor of Sevastopol in Russian-annexed Crimea — was aware of his status as a sanctioned individual when he arrived in the UK in February 2023, prosecutor Paul Jarvis KC said on the first day of a trial at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday.
Dmitrii is being prosecuted alongside his wife Ekaterina Ovsiannikova and brother Alexei Owsjanikow for allegedly circumventing sanctions. Dmitrii is charged with seven counts of breaching sanctions and two counts of money laundering. Ekaterina and Alexei are charged with four and five counts of circumventing sanctions respectively. All three Russian nationals have pleaded not guilty.
The case centres on the status of Dmitrii as a “designated person” on the UK’s sanctions list. Under UK laws known as the “Russia Regulations”, individuals on the list are subject to financial or other sanctions as part of Britain’s efforts to respond to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Within three weeks of his arrival in the UK, his wife Ekaterina had transferred £76,000 to Dmitrii — funds that he used to try to purchase a £54,000 Mercedes-Benz. When his account was frozen, his brother Alexei bought the car, which was later used by Dmitrii, prosecutors said.
Alexei also lent Dmitrii his debit card to make purchases from high-end stores such as the Ginger Pig butchers and off-licence Bottle Apostle, prosecutors added.
“There is ample evidence to show that Dmitrii was aware of his status in the UK as a designated person,” said Jarvis. “Any claim to the contrary by any of the defendants, we suggest to you, is simply unbelievable.”
Dmitrii first became a designated person in the European Union, which included the UK, in November 2017. He was transferred to the UK’s own independent sanctions list after Brexit. Dmitrii successfully challenged his designation in the EU in 2022, but remained UK designated.
When he arrived in the UK, Dmitrii emailed the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office [FCDO] asking for his designation to be revoked. In the email, he told the FCDO that he had discovered he was designated and used a unique ID number available on the UK sanctions list.
The email was “a significant moment in this case,” said Jarvis. “He wouldn’t have applied to cancel his designation under domestic law unless he knew he was designated under domestic law.”
The court heard that Dmitrii had a British passport because his father was born in Bradford. Dmitrii stepped down as governor of Sevastopol in 2019 and worked as the deputy minister for industry and trade in the Russian Federation, another high-level position within government, before leaving Russia in 2022 and travelling to Turkey.
All three defendants were interviewed by the police in January 2024. Following the interviews, Alexei paid about £23,913 and £17,114 to cover private school fees for the younger two of Dmitrii and Ekaterina’s four children, who were pupils at the Royal Russell School in Surrey.
Alexei was questioned by police about the payment in October 2024 and accepted that he had paid the fees, but claimed the payments did not amount to a breach of the “Russian Regulations” because he believed that Ekaterina, who had a translator in the dock on Tuesday, was solely responsible for the payments, according to the prosecution.
The maximum sentence for circumventing sanctions under the “Russia Regulations” is seven years imprisonment. The alleged money laundering offences carry a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. The trial continues.
