Game Over in London: UK Sanctions Oligarchs

In the latest round of sanctions, the UK is targeting billionaires close to Vladimir Putin. This includes Roman Abramovich and Igor Sechin.

• Sanctioning the oligarchs – Russia’s super-rich, who often own buildings and have their families in London – has been hotly debated in the UK. Now the British government has targeted seven of them.
• The group includes several men closely associated with President Vladimir Putin. One of them is Roman Abramovich, owner of the Chelsea football club – which is now facing an uncertain future.
• Igor Sechin, CEO of Russia’s oil giant Rosneft, has also been sanctioned. He is less publicly known than Abramovich but even more influential. Sechin has worked together with Putin since the 1990s.
• By targeting billionaires close to Putin, the UK and other countries hope to increase pressure on the Kremlin. Whether that stops Putin from waging war in Ukraine remains an open question.
• Oligarchs targeted by sanctions are trying to save their money and riches by fleeing to Dubai and other places. However it's getting increasingly difficult to escape the sanctions.
• For the UK the campaign against Russia’s billionaires marks the end of an era. Russian money in “Londongrad” had shaped the real estate market and other parts of the economy for decades.