12 sanctioned oligarchs, including Usmanov, Abramovich, and Putin's former judo sparring partner, are linked to more than $1 billion worth of UK property
- A dozen sanctioned Russian oligarchs are linked to more than $1 billion worth of property.
- A BBC analysis revealed the difficulty of finding property owners, making it hard to sanction them.
A dozen Russian billionaires sanctioned by the West are linked to more than $1 billion worth of UK property, an analysis by the BBC revealed.
Among those included in the findings were Roman Abramovich, Alisher Usmanov, Oleg Deripaska, Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven. None of these individuals immediately responded to Insider's request for comment made outside of normal working hours.
The analysis found which oligarchs owned what through leaked offshore documents, the Land Registry, and court papers.
Rachel Davies, head of advocacy at anti-corruption group Transparency International, told the BBC: "Because of the system of secrecy here in the UK and in relation to the Overseas Dependencies it's really easy for people to hide their assets and their funds in the UK and not even the police necessarily have sight of where those assets are."
The UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment made outside of normal working hours.
Several measures have been taken by the US, UK, and EU amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine. These include removing Russia from the international payment platform SWIFT and the seizure of assets belonging to wealthy Russian businessmen.
According to BBC's report, Abramovich, who reportedly has had half of his fortune frozen, is linked to more than 50 properties in London worth more than $300 million (£230 million), including his 15-bed mansion in Kensington.
The British government sanctioned Abramovich but Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked the US not to sanction the Chelsea FC owner so he could facilitate peace talks.
Usmanov, who had transferred ownership of most of his UK property to trusts, is linked to two mansions and multiple properties in London worth slightly less than $200 million (more than £150 million).
He recently had his $735 million superyacht impounded by German authorities.
Deripaska, whose yacht was sailing towards Turkey on Thursday, is linked to properties near Buckingham Palace and a mansion in Surrey, according to the report.
A spokesperson for Deripaska told the BBC that the sanctions were based on "unfounded and hollow accusations," and that he had "never been involved in politics."
Fridman told the BBC that saying he was close to Vladimir Putin was "absolutely incorrect," while Aven, who was described as one of Putin's closest oligarchs by the EU, said the sanctions against him were "understandable, but unfair," as he never operated under the demands of Putin, he said.
Fridman owns a mansion in North London, which was worth $85 million (£65 million) at the time of acquisition in 2016, according to the report. Aven reportedly owns a mansion in Virginia Water, Surrey, which is worth around $20 million (£15 million).
Arkady Rotenberg, linked to a mansion worth around $60 million (£45 million), sparred in the same judo gym as Putin in St Petersburg, according to BBC.
Other individuals linked to properties in the UK include Andrey Akimov, Polina Kovaleva, Yuri Soloviev, Mikhail Gutseriev, Igor Shuvalov, and German Khan.
The report concluded that senior judges and lawyers faced difficulties in finding the owner of a property in the UK, especially those linked to sanctioned Russian oligarchs. Insider previously reported that it is harder to find the owner of the seized superyachts than imposing sanctions on oligarchs.