Former Putin-appointed governor on trial for breaching UK sanctions

Dmitry Ovsyannikov, who was appointed mayor of Sevastopol by President Putin after Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea, is currently on trial for allegedly violating UK financial sanctions. He is accused of receiving over £75,000 from his wife, Ekaterina Ovsyannikova, and a Mercedes-Benz SUV from his brother, Alexey Ovsyannikov.

The three defendants face 10 counts of violating sanctions and two counts of money laundering at Southwark Crown Court. They have all pleaded not guilty to the charges. The court heard that Dmitry previously held a senior position in Crimea for three years and was also a Deputy Minister in the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Prosecutor Paul Jarvis stated that Dmitry Ovsyannikov "was a significant political figure within the Russian Federation," even though he later resigned as mayor in July 2019. Two years after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, President Putin appointed Dmitry Ovsyannikov as acting mayor of Sevastopol, a "strategically important" city in Crimea. In 2017, the city held mayoral elections, which Mr. Ovsyannikov won.

Due to his senior position in illegally annexed Crimea, the EU imposed financial sanctions on Mr. Ovsyannikov, stating that he "called for Sevastopol to become the southern capital of the Russian Federation." After Brexit, the UK also imposed financial sanctions on him. He later challenged the EU sanctions and had them lifted, but the UK sanctions remain in effect. These sanctions are known as the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. The regulations state that attempting to circumvent sanctions is a criminal offense. This case is the first criminal case involving violations of the Russian regulations.

In August 2022, Dmitry Ovsyannikov traveled from Russia to Turkey and applied for a British passport. Despite the UK sanctions still being in effect, he obtained the passport in January 2023 because his father was born in the UK. Mr. Jarvis said: "Dmitry and Alexey's father was born in Bradford, England in 1950. Their mother is Russian. Dmitry and Alexey hold British passports because their father is a British citizen."

Subsequently, Dmitry Ovsyannikov arrived in the UK on February 1, 2023, and moved into his brother's house in Clapham, where his wife and two young children were already living and attending private school. On February 6, Dmitry Ovsyannikov applied for a Halifax bank account, stating on the form that he was single, but also that he lived with his wife in Clapham. Over the next two and a half weeks, Ekaterina Ovsyannikova transferred £76,000 to her husband's account, enabling him to pay a deposit on a Mercedes-Benz GLC 300 SUV. However, the bank later realized he was on the UK sanctions list and froze the account.

Following this, he returned to the dealership to retrieve his deposit. The prosecution said that his brother, Alexey Ovsyannikov, purchased the car, paying over £54,000. The prosecution alleges that when Mr. Ovsyannikov's wife sent him £76,000 and his brother bought the car, they all violated the Russian regulations. Mr. Jarvis told the jury, "They maintain that they either did not know that Dmitry was a designated person, or did not realize that as a designated person, he must not receive that kind of assistance."

He also added that Dmitry Ovsyannikov must have known he was subject to UK sanctions because on February 7, 2023, he was applying to have the sanctions lifted and included his unique ID number and group ID number from the sanctions list on the form. Mr. Jarvis told the jury that this showed that Mr. Ovsyannikov was aware of the sanctions, "and that he must certainly have made his close family aware of it too."

In January 2024, all three defendants were arrested and questioned by police. Four months later, Alexey Ovsyannikov paid over £40,000 in school fees to cover the tuition for his brother's two youngest children at the Royal Russell School in Croydon – which also violated the sanctions. Paul Jarvis told the jury that in police interviews, Alexey admitted he paid the school fees, but maintained that the payments did not constitute a violation of the Russian regulations because he believed Ekaterina was wholly responsible for the fees, not Dmitry.

The trial is expected to last three weeks at Southwark Crown Court.