Who is Dmitry Ovsyannikov? Vladimir Putin ally arrested in London by UK's FBI for allegedly breaching sanctions and money laundering

The UK's FBI arrested the former leader of occupied Sevastopol, Dmitry Ovsyannikov, in London on Monday, January 22, 2024. Ovsyannikov is an ally of the Russian president Vladimir Putin.

The Russian minister is the first person in the UK to be charged with breaching Russian sanctions and money laundering. The National Crime Agency detained Ovsyannikov in his London home last week and charged him with several breaches on January 23.

In a conversation with The Sun, a spokesperson of the NCA explained the charges faced by Ovsyannikov:

"Dmitry Ovsyannikov was arrested on Monday 22nd January, and charged on 23rd January with breaches of the Russia Sanctions Regulations and money laundering. Ovsyannikov is a designated person under UK sanctions, which imposes limits on his access to money and financial services.''

His charges also include opening a bank account in London and making four payments of £65,000 in total and keeping £77,500 of "criminal cash". Ovsyannikov, now in custody, is scheduled to appear at Southwark Crown Court on February 20. The NCA spokesperson mentioned the following in his interview with The Sun:

“Ovsyannikov has been charged with seven counts of circumvention of sanctions regulations made under the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019; and two counts of Money Laundering contrary to POCA.”

Dmitry Ovsyannikov served as the governor of the Russian-annexed city of Sevastopol from 2017 to 2019. He was removed from his position in 2019. He also served as the Russian Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade until 2020, when he was dismissed by the Russian government.

---

Dmitry Ovsyannikov openly supported the illegal occupation of Crimea

Dmitry Ovsyannikov was appointed the governor of Sevastopol, Crimea's largest city, in 2017 at the age of 36. His appointment was preceded by Russia's initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014.

Before his appointment, there was a struggle for political power in the city of Crimea. Amidst ongoing disputes, Ovsyannikov was sanctioned by the EU in 2017 after he secured 71 percent of the votes in the 2017 elections. At that point, Crimea's legislative assembly speaker, Alexey Chaly, supported Ovsyannikov's appointment.

During his appointment, Chaly and other local politicians in Crimea did not have any problem with Ovsyannikov's staffing approach. Ovsyannikov also openly supported the illegal annexation of Crimea and demanded Sevastopol be declared the capital of south Russia.

However, by early 2018, Chaly and his supporters began "criticizing" Ovsyannikov for "appointing outsiders" to government posts based on Kremlin's "recommendations".

In the 2019 local parliamentary elections, Chaly ran a campaign against Ovsyannikov to remove him from his position. Ovsyannikov was removed from the post in the same year and forced to resign. However, he still retained his position in the Russian government as the Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade.

In April 2020, Ovsyannikov was removed from his position in the government due to a scandal at the Izhevsk airport. The minister allegedly refused to show his ticket and documents at the airport and misbehaved with the staff, leading to his removal.

In December 2020, Dmitry Ovsyannikov submitted a formal plea to the European Court of Justice to lift the sanctions against him to enable him to continue doing business in the EU. The court accepted his plea as he no longer held the position for which he was previously sanctioned.

As per the BBC Russian Service, Ovsyannikov's situation is unusual, as those arrested for non-violent crimes are usually released on bail. However, Dmitry Ovsyannikov has been remanded in custody until his court hearing on February 20.