💵London is home to some of Russia’s wealthiest oligarchs
👀But when My London came knocking, none of them were keen to talk about Ukraine
📰Full story: bit.ly/34kaeGG
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🇺🇦As the Russian invasion of Ukraine leads to mounting civilian casualties, oligarchs in the UK are being targeted by government sanctions
🏙️The billionaires increasingly face a choice of whether to abandon life in London, or denounce the war and risk the wrath of Putin
💰⛔️The assets of Alisher Usmanov and Igor Shuvalov have now been frozen by the UK government
⚽️And Roman Abramovitch has announced he’s selling Chelsea amidst talk from MPs that it should be seized
🏡So MyLondon decided to head over to the mansions of Highgate and Hampstead, to check in on the oligarchs…
Alisher Usmanov:
🇷🇺This former mining executive has been described by the EU as a ‘pro-Kremlin oligarch with particularly close ties to Putin’
💰He’s already had his $600m superyacht seized and his assets frozen by the EU and UK authorities
🏡When we approached Beechwood House, his vast Victorian estate in Highgate, we were met with signs warning us of guard dogs on patrol
⛔️Perhaps unsurprisingly, his security team appeared and told us he was unable to comment
Andrey Guryev:
🇷🇺The imposing Witanhurst mansion is allegedly owned by Russian billionaire Andrey Guryev, who was recently pictured on Russian TV with President Putin
📉Bloomberg estimated Guryev lost $1.1 billion in one day as a result of recent sanctions
🗣️Stopped at the gates of Witanhurst, MyLondon were told to leave the property by a security guard dressed all in black
💵Billionaire Mikhail Fridman lives in the £65m Athlone House, backing onto Hampstead Heath
🇷🇺He’s one of the few oligarchs to publicly criticise the war, but has still faced sanctions after the EU labelled him an ‘enabler of Putin’s inner circle.’
💬Fridman has compared the economic measures placed against him to the historic persecution of the Jewish people
🚪When we rang his buzzer, a security guard politely said he was unavailable and unable to comment
🏡💰16 Kensington Palace Gardens is worth £125m, has 15 bedrooms, and is owned by billionaire Roman Abramovitch
⚽️He recently announced he’s selling Chelsea Football Club, and would be donating the proceeds to victims in the war in Ukraine
👀When we arrived at Abramovitch’s mansion we jumped up and down to get a view over the gates
🚪🗣️To our disappointment, we were unable to even reach the door, let alone knock on it, and couldn’t even find a security guard to tell us to go away…
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