UK Announces First Prison Sentence for Russia Sanctions Violations
A British court last week sentenced two Russians, including one former senior trade official, to prison for violating U.K. sanctions against Russia. The case marks the first conviction in the U.K. for a breach of sanctions under its Russia Sanctions Regulations, the Crown Prosecution Service said.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
Dmitrii Ovsyannikov, a former trade official and former governor of the Russian occupied region of Sevastopol in Crimea, was found guilty of eight counts of “intentionally participating in activities that knowingly” violate Russian sanctions along with two counts of money laundering-related crimes, the U.K. said. His brother, Alexei Ovsyannikov, also was found guilty of two counts of intentionally participating in activities that knowingly violate the sanctions. Dmitrii was sentenced to three years and four months in prison, while Alexei had a 15-month prison sentence suspended and will instead be subject to a curfew.
The Crown Prosecution Service said the violations began after Dmitrii “lost his position” as Russia’s deputy minister of industry and trade and successfully applied to have his EU sanctions designation lifted. He also applied to be delisted by the U.K. after moving to London, acquiring a British passport and opening a Halifax bank account in January 2023.
While he was still sanctioned by the U.K., the Crown Prosecution Service said his wife transferred 1,000 euros into his bank account in early February 2023. She later transferred another 75,000 euros to his account so Dmitrii could buy a Mercedes Benz GLC 300.
The bank froze the account after realizing Dmitrii was sanctioned. To circumvent the freeze, the U.K. said he had his brother, Alexi, buy the car for him. Alexei also gave Dmitrii his debit card to shop with, U.K. said, and in May 2024 Alexi “made funds available” to Dmitrii to pay about 17,000 euros in private school fees for Dmitrii’s children. Alexi “paid school fees on behalf of his brother.”
The Crown Prosecution Service said “all of these financial and attempted transactions are in contravention of the financial sanctions regime created by the UK government.”
Dmitri “knew he had been on the UK sanctions list since 2017 but chose to ignore this,” said Julius Capon, a Crown Prosecution Service official. “Another member of his family sought deliberately to breach the sanctions to live their own lavish lifestyle and show complete disregard for the law.”
He added that U.K. investigators “will work closely together to robustly seek the convictions of sanction busters.”
Graeme Biggar, director general of the country’s National Crime Agency, said the convictions “demonstrate not only that designated individuals are on our radar, but so are those who enable breaches of the regulations.”
The Crown Prosecution Service noted that Dmitri's wife appeared at trial and was acquitted.