Russian oligarchs on UK sanctions list were granted ‘golden visas’
Eight Russian oligarchs on the UK sanctions list over their links to Vladimir Putin were granted “golden visas” to live in Britain.
The eight individuals, who Boris Johnson described as having “the blood of the Ukrainian people on their hands”, were granted the right to live in the UK after promising to invest at least £2m under the controversial tier 1 investor visa scheme.
Lady Williams of Trafford, a home office minister, said in an answer to a parliamentary question this week that on 18 March, eight of the oligarchs subjected to sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine “had been identified as holding or having held leave as a tier 1 (investor) migrant or as a tier 1 (investor) migrant dependent”.
The eight people were not named, and the Home Office declined to provide further details.
On 10 March, the UK government said sanctions had been imposed on 18 Russian businesspeople, with a combined worth of £30bn, since the invasion began. Hundreds more have been added to the list since.
Those on the list include Roman Abramovich, the billionaire owner of Chelsea FC; Alisher Usmanov, the steel and mining magnate described by the EU as one of Putin’s “favourite oligarchs”; and Andrey Guryev Jr, whose family reportedly owns Witanhurst, a mansion in Highgate, north London, that is London’s second-largest home after Buckingham Palace.
Layla Moran, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson, said: “For too long the government has rolled out the red carpet for Putin’s cronies. These people should never have been able to buy their way into the UK with ill-gotten wealth.
“We now need to know how many others who were given golden visas owe their wealth to Putin’s regime, and why the government hasn’t sanctioned them too. Ministers
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