LONDON (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the governments of the West have begun adding to their list of sanctioned individuals.
There are still a few Russians who have been sanctioned by the United States or the European Union but not by the United Kingdom.
Their names emerged on a list of 35 people given for sanctioning by Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, which was given out in parliament by MP Layla Moran, Liberal Democrat.
Oleg Deripaska
Mr Deripaska, an industrialist with close ties to Vladimir Putin, has been sanctioned in the United States since April 2018, according to the US Treasury Department He’s being investigated for money laundering, as well as racketeering and extortion, illegally wiretapping an official of the government, threatening the lives of business rivals, illegally wiretapping a government official. Deripaska is also accused of bribing a government official, ordering the assassination of a businessman, and having ties to a Russian organised criminal organisation.
He controls 45 percent of EN+, an aluminium business that went public on the London Stock Exchange in 2017 and raised $1.5 billion (£1.1 billion), with Lord Barker, a former Conservative energy minister, serving as executive chairman.
Others are subject to penalties in other countries
Mr Navalny has highlighted eight other people who are listed on the EU or US sanctions lists but not on the UK’s.
The president of Russia’s state-owned VTB bank, Andrey Kostin, is currently on the EU and the US sanctions lists.
VTB Capital, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), has been added to the UK’s list of sanctioned corporations. On February 25, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) placed the bank under suspension.
After a scandal involving the widespread use of torture in Russian prisons, Alexander Kalashnikov, who was included to the EU’s list of human rights abusers, was fired as director of Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service in 2021.
Russia’s National Guard is led by Victor Zolotov, who is on the US and EU lists but not the UK’s. His family is one of Russia’s wealthiest real estate families.
The US list includes Alexei Miller, head of Gazprom’s executive committee, and Igor Sechin, president of Rosneft (and former deputy Russian prime minister), although the UK list does not.
On February 23, the EU added three people to its sanctioned list who were not sanctioned in the UK:
- Igor Shuvalov, named the chairman of the VEB.RF financial by President Putin
- Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the Russia Today television news networkÂ
- Vladimir Soloviev, a Russian television presenter
Roman Abramovich
Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich is another big name on Mr Navalny’s list.
Mr. Abramovich is not subject to any sanctions imposed by the United Kingdom, the European Union, or the United States.
Following the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Abramovich made a huge fortune in oil.
He now has a sizable property portfolio, which includes a Kensington house.
Several UK MPs have asked for sanctions against Mr Abramovich’s assets, alleging intimate ties to the Kremlin, which the billionaire rejects.
Russian businesses
Gazprom is a state-owned natural gas company that is one of the largest in the world.
The same can be said for Rosneft, the Russian oil corporation, which is 40% controlled by the Russian government and 20% held by the British oil giant BP.
Following Russia’s “act of aggression in Ukraine,” BP said that it would sell its share in Rosneft.
