Oligarchs under EU and US sanctions own £200m of London property

Oligarchs under sanctions in the US and EU, but not in the UK, own more than £200m of property in London and the Home Counties. Among those hit by sanctions are Petr Aven, who attended a meeting with Vladamir Putin last week and owns an £8m property in Virginia Water; Mikhail Fridman, who owns the £65m-plus Athlone House in north London; Igor Shuvalov, who owns an £11m flat in Westminster; Oleg Deripaska, who lives in a £25m property in Belgrave Square; and Everton FC sponsor Alisher Usmanov. The exact property holdings of Usmanov are rather more mysterious, but he could be the beneficial owner of at least £60m of property in London and Surrey. Amid a lack of transparency over the beneficial owners of London property, Labour wrote to the government on Wednesday urging it to change proposed legislation to give foreign property owners 28 days rather than 18 months to reveal their identity. The Guardian