THAT'S YOUR SQUAT
Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska’s £50m mansion STORMED by riot cops after squatters take over flying ‘f*** Putin’ banner
SQUATTERS have taken over the luxury London mansion belonging to Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
The 11-bedroom central London pad, belonging to one of Putin's cronies, has been hung with banners reading "Putin go f**k yourself".
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Activists entered the £50 million mansion on Belgrave Square - one of London's most expensive addresses - just after midnight on Monday morning.
One banner reads "This property has been liberated," while a second reads "Putin go f**k yourself" in Russian and English.
A Ukrainian flag has also been hung from an upstairs window.
The squatters group reportedly call themselves No Fixed Abode Anti Fascists.
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A Twitter page called "Resist London" shared a statement reading: "We are anarchists. We occupy this property in protest against Putin and his world.
"This mansion belongs to a Russian oligarch, complicity in Putin's invasion of Ukraine."
The statement goes on: "By occupying this mansion, we want to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine, but also the people of Russia who never agreed to this madness.
"As always with wars, empires benefit and common people pay the price.
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"We want to show our sympathy to the brave protesters who have been fighting in the belly of the best, and suffer unjust imprisonment for standing up to Putin. We say with you: Putin, go f**k yourself."
The Met Police has sent a response team to the property on Belgrave Square, where all but three of 30 properties are owned by foreigners.
A Met Police spokesman said: "Police were called shortly after 1.00hrs on Monday, March 14 to a residential property in Belgrave Square, SW1.
"Officers attended and found that a number of people had gained entry and hung banners from upstairs windows. Officers remain at the location."
At least eight police vans and a JCB cherrypicker were spotted outside the property, despite the fact that only four demonstrators were believed to be in the house.
Reporters claim at least 30 police were called to deal with a small demonstration.
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Early Monday afternoon, police with riot shields drilled their way into the mansion, while other cops used a crane to get to the protesters.
Four demonstrators tried to barricade the door using small bushes and flower beds on the first-floor balcony.
One protestor sang the words to the Bill Medley hit (I've Had) The Time Of My Life from the film Dirty Dancing and swigged alcohol from a glass as cops barged in.
Another demonstrator shouted at police: "F*** all cops, each and every one of you is a scumbag and a parasite you’re all losers.
"How do you sleep at night? You should be on the same side you should be against oligarchs."
It comes as...
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- Defiant President Volodymyr Zelensky visited wounded troops in hospital and handed out medals
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Deripaska, 54, was one of seven oligarchs to be sanctioned by the UK government for his ties to the Kremlin following the bloody invasion of Ukraine.
He has an estimated worth of £3.2 billion and a multi-million-pound UK property portfolio.
Deripaska bought his 11-bedroom home, known as London's most-expensive terraced house, for an estimated £25 million in 2003.
The US first put him under sanctions in 2018 over alleged links to the Russian government including accusations of cyber-attacks and meddling in the 2016 Presidential Election.
Deripaska has always called the claims "a lie" adding: "The idea that I am some kind of 'Kremlin operative'... is clearly idiotic nonsense."
He was hit with an asset freeze and banned from any transactions with UK individuals and businesses following the announcement of sanctions on Thursday.
Unlike other wealthy Russians listed, Deripaska has responded personally to the sanctions, slamming the UK government's actions and suggesting he could challenge them in court.
A furious Deripaska declared on Twitter: "Since there's not a single fact in support of Boris' cabinet's fantasies it will be for the courts and the police to decide the future for all in this sanctions story."
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As well as Belgrave Square, the Putin ally reportedly owns a five-bedroom listed mansion in Weybridge, Surrey, on the exclusive St George's Hill private gated community.
He is alleged to have put the house on the market last month for £18m just prior to the invasion of Ukraine.
Estate agents Knight Frank have now reportedly pulled out trying to sell the home.
Deripaska is a close ally of President Putin and has been accused of helping the Kremlin in foreign influence operations.
He quit as a director of Russian energy giant EN+ group in response to the sanctions.
Deripaska made his money as a metals broker trading aluminium after graduating from Moscow State University with a degree in physics.
He has two children with his ex-wife Polina Yumasheva, the stepdaughter of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
They divorced in 2018.
We say with you: Putin, go f**k yourself
Resist London
It comes as French activists have seized another property belonging to someone close to Putin.
On Monday, a group entered a house in Biarritz belonging to the ex-son-in-law of the Russian President, Kirill Shamalov.
Shamalov was formerly married to Putin's daughter, Katerina Tikhonova until the pair divorced in 2018.
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Deripaska, described by Tory MP Bob Seely as "Putin's most loyal" oligarch, made the headlines in 2008 after his meetings with former Labour minister Peter Mandelson and ex-Chancellor George Osborne in Corfu were revealed.
Osborne was accused of trying to solicit a donation for the Conservative party, something he denies.
Mandelson, then an EU trade commissioner, stayed on Deripaska's yacht the Queen K off the coast of the Greek island.
He went on to become business secretary in Gordon Brown's government as a Labour peer.
Announcing the sanctions, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "There can be no safe havens for those who have supported Putin's vicious assault on Ukraine.
"Today's sanctions are the latest step in the UK's unwavering support for the Ukrainian people. We will be ruthless in pursuing those who enable the killing of civilians, destruction of hospitals and illegal occupation of sovereign allies."
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss added: "Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin, they are complicit in his aggression.
"The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.
"Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine."
The seven sanctioned oligarchs have a combined net worth estimated at £15bn.
Last October, FBI agents raided a historic New York townhouse in Greenwich Village and a Washington DC mansion both linked to Deripaska.
The tycoon responded on social media, claiming that nobody was living in the properties.
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He also owns a second New York townhouse just off Central Park, bought through a company registered in the British Virgin Islands in 2008 for an estimated $42.5 million (£32.6m).
The company is the same one that he used to buy the property in Belgrave Square.
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