More than £40,000 in fees for an exclusive Surrey private school were allegedly paid in breach of UK sanctions for the children of a Russian politician, a court has heard.
Dmitrii Ovsiannikov, 47, is charged alongside wife Ekaterina Owsjanikow, 46, and brother in law Alexei Owsjanikow, also 46, with a series of alleged breaches of this country’s sanction regime aimed at Russian nationals.
It is said he opened a bank account in February 2023 and received thousands of pounds, while Alexei Owsjanikow is accused of buying Ovsiannikov a car and making a second bank account available to him for purchases including a £409.27 order at wine shop Bottle Apostle.
In two new charges laid in the case this month, Owsjanikow is accused of paying £41,027.25 in school fees for Ovsiannikov’s children to attend the Royal Russell School in Surrey.
The payments are said to have taken place in May this year, according to charges at Southwark crown court.
The case is currently listed for a trial in March next year, with a further hearing scheduled for Friday this week.
Ovsiannikov was the mayor of Sevastopol in occupied Crimea between 2017 and 2019, and formerly served as Russia’s deputy minister of industry and trade.
He was sanctioned by Britain in 2020 over public statements he made in support of the invasion of Crimea.
He has been charged with two counts of money laundering and seven allegations of intentionally participating in activities knowing that the object of effect is to circumvent or enable or facilitate the contravention of sanctions.
It is said an HBOS account was set up in February 2023 and received a total of £76,000 later that same month.
His wife faces four charges of breaching the sanctions, while Owsjanikow is named on eight charges. He is accused over the alleged purchase of a vehicle in March 2023, motor insurance paid for in January this year, the setting up of a Barclays bank account, the school fees, and three alleged payments from November 2023.
