UK sanctions Abramovich and Usmanov's financial fixers in crackdown on oligarch enablers

• Fresh UK action targets those helping oligarchs to avoid the full cost of sanctions
• Demetris Ioannides and Christodoulos Vassiliades – financial fixers for Putin's allies Abramovich and Usmanov - sanctioned
• Usmanov's financial network, including companies USM, Curzon Square and Hanley Limitedsanctioned
• Family members of oligarchs acting as proxies to hide wealth also sanctioned 

New sanctions announced by Foreign Secretary James Cleverly today (Wednesday 12th April) target those who have knowingly assisted sanctioned Russia oligarchs to hide their assets in complex financial networks.

In the face of unprecedented international sanctions in response to Putin’s illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine – with over £18 billion of Russian and other assets frozen in the UK alone – oligarchs have scrambled to shield their wealth with the help of financial fixers, offshore trusts, shell companies, and even using their family members.  

Now UK experts have uncovered their financial networks - tracing those responsible for facilitating the activity and sanctioning them directly with asset freezes, travel bans, transport sanctions, and trust services sanctions. Working in partnership across Whitehall, the FCDO, HMRC, NCA, OFSI and others such as DfT, are enforcing sanctions and pursuing those who try to undermine them.

Among those sanctioned are Demetris Ioannides and Christodoulos Vassiliades – two Cypriot professional enablers supporting major Russian oligarchs Roman Abramovich and Alisher Usmanov. Ioannides is responsible for crafting the murky offshore structures which Abramovich used to hide over £760 million assets ahead of being sanctioned following Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. Vassiliades, a Cypriot lawyer, is at the centre of a web of trusts and offshore companies that link Usmanov and Sutton Place Estate.

The UK has also targeted Usmanov's financial network, including companies USM, Curzon Square Limited, and Hanley Limited. Sanctioning these companies ensures that assets associated with Usmanov – including the £90 million Beechwood House mansion in London - remain sanctioned. Curzon Square Limited, the outfit that acted as Usmanov's London office and as leaseholder of a Grade II mansion on Curzon Square, is also subject to an asset freeze. Vladimir and Varvara Skoch, the father and daughter of Usmanov's business partner and "richest man in the Duma" Andrei Skoch, have also been sanctioned.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said: 

"We are closing the net on the Russian elite and those who try to help them hide their money for war.

"There's no place to hide. We will keep cutting them off from assets they thought were successfully hidden.

"Together with our international partners the UK will continue to crack down on those who are supporting the war. We won't stop until Putin does."

Today's package hits a number of family members of other oligarchs, who are used as proxies to hide their assets. This includes: 

• Tatiana Evtushenkova, the acting director of firm Redline Capital which is owned by her father, Vladimir Evtushenkov. 
• Natalia Evtushenkov, wife of Vladimir Evtushenkov who holds board positions in banks and other companies in which her husband owns stakes including MTS Bank. She is also on the board of directors for Telecomms company Instacom International, which is owned by her husband. 
• Felix Evtushenkov, whose father Vladimir transferred 10% of shares in Russian conglomerate Sistema to Felix at the time of his own designation, bringing Vladimir's stake to below 50%. 
• Gulnara Kerimova, who holds four luxury villas in France on behalf of her father Suleyman Kerimov. 
• Nariman Gadzhiev, who acts as the beneficiary owner of a series of shell companies connected to Kerimov. A company linked to Gadzhiev was found to be transferring hundreds of millions of dollars to companies linked to his uncle Kerimov.  
• Oksana Marchenko, the wife of key Putin ally Victor Medvedchuk, and owner of multiple luxury properties in Crimea.

Today's package comes as part of the UK's crackdown on all forms of evasion and circumvention -  including an additional £50 million announced as part of the new Economic Deterrence Initiative to support sanctions enforcement and continued work with international partners through the co-ordination enforcement cell.

The Home Secretary also recently announced the expansion of the National Crime Agency's Combating Kleptocracy Cell to target corrupt elites and their enablers.

The UK, alongside international partners, is also continuing to strengthen the unprecedented sanctions imposed to constrain Russia's capacity to wage its illegal war – including through the new enforcement co-ordination mechanism to bolster the compliance and enforcement of our measures.  

By implementing these measures, the UK is ensuring - consistent with its legal systems - that Putin and those who continue to support his war have no access to any of these assets until they end their violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.  

-ENDS-

• Demetris Ioannides is a Cypriot corporate services provider and associate of sanctioned Russian billionaire oligarch and former owner of Premier League football club Chelsea, Roman Abramovich. In the days and weeks leading up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ioannides restructured the trusts holding more than £760 million of assets on behalf of Abramovich, including his £90 million Kensington mansion.

• Christodoulos Vassiliadesis a Cypriot lawyer and associate of the sanctioned Uzbek-Russian billionaire oligarch Alisher Usmanov. The same month that Russia invaded Ukraine, Usmanov's ties to 16th Century Tudor surrey manor house and estate 'Sutton Place Estate' disappeared. The estate now belongs to companies owned by Vassiliades. Vassiliades is also a director of Sberbank Investments Limited.

• USM Holdings Limited is the holding company of sanctioned Uzbek-Russian billionaire oligarch Alisher Usmanov, through which he holds stakes in companies across the metals, mining, technology, and internet sectors. Key holdings include Metalloinvest, the largest producer of iron ore in Russia, and Megafon, a leading Russian telecommunications operator with over 70 million subscribers. USM Holdings is also connected to Andrei Skoch, who is Usmanov’s business partner and known as the ‘richest man in the Duma’.
• Hanley Limited is an Isle of Man-based company associated with sanctioned Uzbek-Russian billionaire oligarch Usmanov. Hanley Limited owns the £90 million Beechwood House mansion in Highgate, London, which Usmanov owned through a trust and a series of offshore companies until the same month Russia invaded Ukraine.

• Curzon Square Limitedis the London-based office of sanctioned Uzbek-Russian billionaire oligarch Alisher Usmanov, which holds and services UK properties linked to Usmanov. This includes 4 Curzon Square, a Grade II listed historic 4-story mansion next to Hyde Park in London.

• Meritservus HC Limited is a Cyprus-based company that specialises in corporate services. Demetris Ioannides is managing director of Meritservus, and Roman Abramovich one of its longest standing clients. Abramovich used Meritservus’ services to restructure several of his trusts holding more than £760 million of his assets via a web of offshore companies, in turn managed by Meritservus’ subsidiaries.

• Felix Evtushenkov is the son of sanctioned Russian billionaire Vladimir Evtushenkov. Vladimir Evtushenkov founded and led the Russian financial holding company Sistema JSFC for almost three decades. Vladimir Evtushenkov transferred 10% of his shares in Sistema JSFC to his son Felix in April 2022 – the same month that he was designated by the UK.

• Tatiana Evtushenkova is the daughter of the sanctioned Russian billionaire Vladimir Evtushenkov. Tatiana Evtushenkova is the director of the UK-registered venture capital firm Redline Capital, a company ultimately owned by her father through a string of companies.

• Natalia Evtushenkova is the wife of sanctioned Russian billionaire Vladimir Evtushenkov. Natalia Evtushenkova serves as a member of the Board of Directors at a number of companies partly or fully owned by her husband, including East-West United Bank, MTS Bank, and Instacom International.

• Gulnara Kerimova is the daughter of sanctioned Russian oligarch and politician Suleyman Kerimov. Through a web of shell companies, Gulnara owns four luxury villas in the South of France – including Villa Hier in Cap d'Antibes – previously owned by her father. Gulnara has already been sanctioned by the US.   

• Nariman Gadzhiev is the nephew of sanctioned oligarch and politician Suleyman Kerimov. Gadzhiev has been linked to a number of offshore companies found to be involved in transfers of hundreds of millions of dollars on Kerimov’s behalf. Gadzhiev has already been sanctioned by the US.   

• Vladimir Skoch is the father of Andrei Skoch, Usmanov’s business partner and known as the ‘richest man in the Duma’. Vladimir holds shares in USM alongside his granddaughter Varvara Skoch, on behalf of Andrei Skoch.

• Varvara Skoch is the daughter of Andrei Skoch, Usmanov’s business partner and known as the ‘richest man in the Duma’. Vavara holds shares in USM alongside grandfather Vladimir Skoch, on behalf of her father Andrei Skoch.

• Oksana Marchenkois a former Ukrainian TV personality and the wife of sanctioned oligarch and former Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk. Medvedchuk set up and helped finance Ukraine's largest pro-Russian party. Marchenko played a key role in the corrupt schemes that enriched Medvedchuk, including by acting as a proxy to conceal his stake in oil company YugEnergo.