UK's latest clampdown on Russian oligarchs Abramovich and Usmanov reaches Cyprus

16:57 - 12 April 2023

Current Affairs

Two Cypriots active in the professional services sector – lawyer Christodoulos Vassiliades and accountant Demetris Ioannides – are among a number of individuals, described as “oligarch enablers”, who have been sanctioned by the UK government for knowingly assisting Russian billionaires Roman Abramovich and Alisher Usmanov to hide their assets.

According to an announcement by the UK’s Foreign Secretary, Ioannides is allegedly responsible for “crafting the murky offshore structures which Abramovich used to hide £760 million assets ahead of being sanctioned following Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine”.

Meanwhile, citing leaked information, The Guardian newspaper has reported that the Cypriot accountant executed the restructuring of 10 offshore trusts belonging to Abramovich, transferring beneficial ownership to his seven children weeks leading up to the invasion.

In the case of Vassiliades, he is being accused by UK officials as being “at the centre of a web of trusts and offshore companies that link Usmanov and Sutton Place Estate”.

The sanctions involve asset freezes, travel bans, transport sanctions and trust services sanctions. So far, in the UK alone, over £18 billion of Russian and other assets have been frozen.

The Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, said: “We are closing the net on the Russian elite and those who tried to help them hide their money for war.”

It is worth noting that Ioannides and Vassiliades are the first Cypriots to be included in such lists.

UK's latest clampdown on Russian oligarchs Abramovich and Usmanov reaches Cyprus

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