Police Kick Squatters Out Of Russian Oligarch's London Mansion

LONDON, March 14 – Police on Monday evicted squatters who had taken over a London mansion owned by the family of Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, which was placed on a UK sanctions list last week in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Dressed in protective gear, the officers entered the multi-million dollar Belgrave Square mansion, home to numerous foreign embassies and located in an upscale area of the British capital.

“You are occupying Ukraine, we are occupying you,” the squatters, who identified themselves as anarchists, said in a statement. “By occupying this mansion, we want to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine, as well as with the people of Russia, who never agreed to this madness.”

The squatters gathered on the balcony in front of the house, unfurled the Ukrainian flag and hung a banner reading “This house has been liberated.” The long standoff ended at 20:00 GMT.

“Four protesters on the balcony of a building in Belgrave Square … went downstairs and were arrested,” police said. Earlier, police said they had arrested four more people who were trying to gain access to the property.

Last Thursday, Britain froze the assets of Deripaska, one of a number of Russian oligarchs who fell victim to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Deripaska’s spokeswoman said the house belongs to members of his family and not to him personally. More

A man gestures as he and other squatters occupy a mansion reportedly owned by Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, who was placed on the UK sanctions list last week, in Belgravia, London, UK, March 14, 2022. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

“We are shocked by the negligence of the British justice system by the Boris Johnson cabinet in imposing sanctions and colluding with those people who raid private property,” she said.

“It’s really a shame that this is happening in a country that should respect private property and the rule of law.”

Deripaska, who owns stakes in energy company En+ Group, which owns one of the world’s largest aluminum producers, is worth an estimated £2bn, according to the British government, as well as a multimillion-pound property portfolio in the UK.

London High Court documents from 2007 identified Deripaska as the beneficial owner of the Belgrave Square mansion. A judge in a lawsuit a year earlier said the property and another house he owned outside the capital were then worth around £40m ($52m).

The UK has sanctioned some 20 Russian oligarchs, including Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich, by freezing their property in London and banning them from entering the UK.

“Squatting in residences is illegal, but we are working to determine the proper use of confiscated property while the owners are under sanctions,” a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters. “We certainly don’t think people should break the law.”

(1 dollar = 0.7666 pounds)

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper, Alistair Smout and Guy Faulconbridge; Edited by Frank Jack Daniel and Tim Achmann.

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