Ex-governor of Sevastopol Ovsyannikov was detained in London

The ex-governor of Sevastopol and former deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Dmitry Ovsyannikov was detained by British police , The Times newspaper reports, citing the National Crime Agency (NCA).

The Times material was published only in the paper version of the publication, its contents are provided by TASS . The politician was detained at his home in London on January 22. A preliminary hearing in his case in a London COURT is scheduled for February 20. Ovsyannikov is suspected of violating the sanctions regime and money laundering.

According to The Times, Ovsyannikov received transfers totaling 65 thousand pounds sterling ($82.5 thousand) to an account that he had previously opened in one of the banks of the HBOS financial group in London. 77.5 thousand pounds ($98.5 thousand) in cash were also seized from him.

From 2017 to 2022, Ovsyannikov was under sanctions from the UK, EU and US . However, in 2022, the European Court annulled the decisions of the EU Council over the past two years to extend sanctions against him. The court ruled that in order to extend the sanctions imposed during the period of the ex-official’s work in the civil service, convincing evidence of Ovsyannikov’s connections with the Russian leadership and “destabilizing influence on Ukraine” after leaving office is required.

Ovsyannikov became the acting governor of Sevastopol in 2016, and then was elected head of the city. In July 2019, he asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to dismiss him as governor of Sevastopol “at his own request.” The party considered his departure to be natural, pointing to the allocation of significant budget funds to the city. “Unfortunately, instead, residents received missed deadlines and unfinished facilities, political conflicts and scandals,” explained the head of the General Council of United RUSSIA, Andrei Turchak.

After this, in October, Ovsyannikov moved to the post of Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of Russia in the government of Dmitry Medvedev. But already in the spring of the following year, he lost this post as well after a scandal that occurred at the Izhevsk airport, where an official obscenely insulted an employee due to a pre-flight check. After this, Ovsyannikov left the civil service and went into business, including in Cyprus.