UK freezes assets of Russian oligarchs Usmanov and Shuvalov

The UK announced new sanctions against two Russian oligarchs it sees as linked to the Kremlin, mining and telecommunications tycoon Alisher Usmanov, and former Russian deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov.

With immediate effect, their assets in British territory are frozen and their entry into the country is vetoed, the Foreign Ministry reported in a statement, which estimates that the fortunes of both add up to around US $ 19,000 million (17,170 million euros).

The Executive has so far imposed economic punishments on eleven Russian oligarchs, in addition to measures against the country’s president, Vladimir Putin, and his foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, as well as various banks and companies, in response to the ordered invasion of Ukraine through Moscow.

“Our goal is to cripple the Russian economy and starve Putin’s war machine”, said the head of the Foreign Office, Liz Truss.

“Sanctioning Usmanov and Shuvalov sends a clear message that we are going to attack the oligarchs and people closely associated with the Putin regime.”, he added.

Usmanov controls the international conglomerate USM, with interests in metallurgy, mining, telecommunications and technology, and is one of the owners of the Russian phone operator MegaFon.

The oligarch has had a close relationship with the English soccer clubs Arsenal and Everton. This last team announced yesterday the extinction of all commercial relations with its companies as a result of the “appalling events happening in Ukraine”.

According to the Foreign Office, Usmanov owns the mansion of Beechwood House, in north London, valued at 48 million pounds (58 million euros), as well as the 16th-century palatial estate Sutton Place, in the English county of Surrey.

Hours before the announcement of the new British sanctions, Germany had immobilized Usmanov’s yacht “Dilbar”, one of the largest private vessels in the world, with 156 meters in length.

As for Shuvalov, the Russian deputy prime minister between 2008 and 2018 owns two apartments in central London valued at 11 million pounds (13 million euros), according to Foreign Affairs.

The measures announced this Thursday by the Government include the veto to any British citizen and company to do business with the sanctioned oligarchs.

London announced at the same time that it plans to activate a working group with members of the Ministries of Interior, Economy, Business and other departments to coordinate future measures against Russian interests.