Putin ally arrested in LONDON by Britain’s FBI becoming first person charged with breaching Russian sanctions

VLADIMIR Putin ally Dmitry Ovsyannikov has been arrested in London by the UK's FBI.

The ex-Kremlin minister, who was previously appointed leader of occupied Sevastopol, is the first person to be charged in the UK with breaching Russian sanctions.

Ovsyannikov, 46, was detained at his home in London last week by the National Crime Agency.

He has been charged with breaching sanctions and money laundering.

Siberian-born Ovsyannikov, who was dismissed from the Russian government in 2020, was sanctioned by the EU in 2017.

It came after he publicly supported the illegal annexation of Crimea and called for Sevastopol to "become the capital of the south of Russia".

In 2017, Ovsyannikov was appointed the so-called governor of Sevastopol, Crimea's second-largest port city, after Russia's initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014.

But in 2019 the married dad-of-two was removed from the post and removed from the government in 2020 after serving as deputy minister of industry and trade.

Following his arrest in London on January 22, he was charged with seven counts of circumvention of sanctions regulations and two of money laundering.

He is due to appear at Southwark Crown Court on February 20, and has been remanded in custody.

Ovsyannikov is accused of deliberately ignoring sanctions to open a London-based bank account, as well as making four payments totalling £65,000 into the account and keeping £77,500 of "criminal cash".

A spokesman for the NCA told The Sun: "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.

"He has been remanded in custody to appear at Southwark CC on the 20th February.

“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.”