Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on April 9, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
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Dmitrii Ovsiannikov, ex-governor of Sevastopol, found guilty of breaching UK sanctions, marking the first prosecution of its kind in Britain.
LONDON (Reuters) - A Russian politician appointed by President Vladimir Putin as governor of Russia-annexed Crimea's largest city was on Wednesday found guilty of breaching British sanctions, after the first prosecution of its kind.
Dmitrii Ovsiannikov – who was appointed governor of Sevastopol in July 2016, two years after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine – was charged with trying to circumvent sanctions between February 2023 and January 2024.
Ovsiannikov was found guilty of six counts of circumventing sanctions and two counts of possessing or using criminal property. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on a seventh charge of circumventing sanctions.
The 48-year-old, who had denied all the charges, will be sentenced at London's Southwark Crown Court on Friday.
Ovsiannikov had been accused of getting his wife Ekaterina Ovsiannikova, 47, to pay 76,000 pounds ($97,000) into his account, some of which was so he could buy a Mercedes-Benz SUV.
Prosecutors said Ovsiannikov then got his 47-year-old brother Alexei Owsjanikow to buy the car and insurance for it, before Owsjanikow later paid just over 41,000 pounds for his brother's children's private school fees.
Owsjanikow and Ovsiannikova faced five and four counts of circumventing sanctions respectively, which they denied.
The jury found Owsjanikow guilty of two counts of circumventing sanctions, in relation to the school fees, but he was acquitted in relation to the car and insurance.
Ovsiannikova was cleared of all charges.
When Ovsiannikov was charged last year, the National Crime Agency said he was the first person to be charged in Britain with breaching sanctions relating to Russia.
($1 = 0.7837 pounds)
(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Gareth Jones)
The article discusses the conviction of Dmitrii Ovsiannikov, a former governor in Crimea, for breaching UK sanctions.
Dmitrii Ovsiannikov is a Russian politician and former governor of Sevastopol, Crimea, appointed by President Putin.
He was charged with circumventing UK sanctions and possessing or using criminal property.
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