‘International man of mystery’ denies aiding Russia sanctions breach, court told

A Russian has denied being an “international man of mystery” who allegedly helped his brother evade UK sanctions imposed over his former ministerial role in Vladimir Putin’s government, a court heard.

Dmitrii Ovsiannikov, 48, the former mayor of Sevastopol in illegally annexed Crimea, is facing seven counts of circumventing sanctions between February 2023 and January 2024.

His brother Alexei Owsjanikow, 47, has denied committing the same charge by buying a Mercedes Benz worth £54,500 for Ovsiannikov, as well as spending £41,027 on fees at the Royal Russell School in Surrey for his sibling’s children.

Owsjanikow faces five counts of breaching sanctions and Ovsiannikov’s wife, Ekaterina Ovsiannikova, faces four counts by assisting with the payments to her husband.

The full charge alleges the three defendants “intentionally participated in activities knowing” that the “object or effect is to circumvent or enable or facilitate the contravention of prohibitions”.

The jury at Southwark Crown Court were sent out to start deliberating shortly before 3pm on Friday.

It has been largely accepted that the defendants engaged in the relevant activities but their lawyers deny this amounts to the charge.

They claim their clients either did not know Ovsiannikov was a designated person or were unaware he was barred from receiving the financial help.

Under the original asset freeze, Ovsiannikov – who also served as the Russian Federation’s deputy minister for industry and trade before he was dismissed and expelled from the party in 2020 – was not even allowed to buy groceries.

The prosecution had painted a picture of the three defendants plotting about evading sanctions by the fireside and in the kitchen of their house, said Gavin Irwin, representing Owsjanikow, who did not give evidence in the trial.

Mr Irwin denied this was the case and described the three defendants living in the newly renovated house in Clapham, south London, with young children, that was likely “covered in Lego”.

He asked: “Would the adults in that house take to their rooms or would they be sitting plotting together about how to defeat financial sanctions?”

It was “speculation” that a scheme was under way, he said.

Prosecutors previously described Owsjanikow’s as “nebulous” and argued he is “an international man of mystery”.

His defence barrister said: “Again it’s rather a movie, the image that the prosecution are going to try to create.

“They go further – the international man of mystery. They have gone from the Godfather to Austin Powers.”

Mr Irwin said: “Alexei isn’t the international man of mystery – he’s the man who wasn’t there.

“The man who wasn’t there simply doesn’t know enough for any parts of this indictment to be made good.”

During summing up, Judge Sara Cockerill told the jury: “You don’t have much information about him (Owsjanikow) at all.

“We know he’s Dmitrii’s brother, we know he’s of good character. We don’t have much information about what he did or does.”

Jurors heard he goes on “trips” of sometimes up to three weeks, the judge added.

One charge relates to Ovsiannikov’s decision to buy a Mercedes Benz GLC 300 worth £54,500 on February 22 2023.

Halifax (HBOS) froze his card on February 24 and it was later confirmed that this was due to a suspected breach of sanctions regulations.

Ovsiannikov’s told the dealership he was unable to get insurance and his £500 deposit was returned on March 1.

Six days later Owsjanikow bought the car.

Ovsiannikov and Ovsiannikova both drove the vehicle and it has been alleged that Owsjanikow bought the car for his brother to use, and circumvented sanctions by doing so.

Prosecution argued it is “simply not a realistic possibility that Alexei suddenly and coincidentally wants this car for himself”, the judge said in her summary.

On November 14, Owsjanikow flew from Gatwick airport to Vienna for a couple of weeks and left his Barclays debit card at the Clapham house.

His brother used it to buy petrol, food and wine, and purchases were made in the Clapham and Balham area including at Ginger Pig butchers and Bottle Apostle wine shop.

The prosecution called it “inconceivable that Alexei did not by this stage known that Dmitrii was sanctioned, and therefore the motivation for leaving that card must be to get around that difficulty”, the judge reiterated to jurors.

The defence barrister claimed the card was left for family members to buy small items for emergencies.

Owsjanikow’s lawyer said he had been acting in a way that a generous and wealthy person would to their family.

He also cautioned jurors against letting views on wealth influence their decisions.

Ovsiannikova accepted using the card at a number of beauty salons on International Women’s Day and it was suggested that Transport for London payments and Tesco transactions were made by their daughter.

Ovsiannikov also denies one count of using criminal property and one of possessing criminal property.