Dmitrii Ovsyannikov, 48, the former governor of Sevastopol, which Russia occupied after annexing Crimea, and his brother Alexei Ovsyannikov, 47, were found guilty of eight counts of breaching financial sanctions and two counts of money laundering. Dmitrii, who also served as Russian deputy minister for industry and trade, received 40 months in prison, while Alexei was sentenced to 15 months suspended for 15 months.
Dmitrii has been a designated person in the UK since 2017. After losing his ministerial post, he successfully applied to have his EU sanctions lifted and was issued with a UK passport in January 2023.
In February 2023, he applied for a Halifax bank account, applied to have his UK designated status revoked and attempted to buy a £54,000 Mercedes Benz GLC 300. His wife, Ekaterina, transferred £1,000 and then £75,000 into his bank account. However, his account was frozen once the bank realised he was on the UK sanctions list.
His brother Alexei purchased the car for Dmitrii, left his debit cards for Dmitrii to use in shops in Clapham and Balham while he went on a trip abroad, and, in May 2024, paid school fees for Dmitrii’s children.
These financial transactions were found to contravene the UK sanctions regime.
Julius Capon, unit head prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service, said Dmitrii ‘knew he had been on the UK sanctions list since 2017 but chose to ignore this.
‘Another member of his family sought deliberately to breach the sanctions to live their own lavish lifestyle and show complete disregard for the law.’
Graeme Biggar, director general of the National Crime Agency, said: ‘These convictions demonstrate not only that designated individuals are on our radar, but so are those who enable breaches of the regulations.’
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