Britain may use properties owned by sanctioned Russian oligarchs to house refugees from Ukraine, the UK said Monday — as squatters infiltrated one of the billionaires’ London mansions, only to be later booted.
French police also arrested two activists who had been occupying a luxury villa in the coastal city of Biarritz that they said was linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s former son-in-law.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman said Britain will consider taking over sanctioned oligarchs’ lavish local digs for refugees when asked by reporters about the possibility.
It’s “something we’re looking at,” the rep said.
The surprise revelation came shortly before the UK unveiled plans to pay Britons around $460 a month to house Ukrainian refugees in spare rooms or properties for at least six months.
Meanwhile, protesters broke into Oleg Deripaka’s swanky digs and hung banners outside taunting both its wealthy owner and Putin.
“THIS PROPERTY HAS BEEN LIBERATED,” one banner declared, while the other said, “PUTIN GO F–K YOURSELF” in both English and Russian.
In a statement posted on Twitter, the anarchist group “Resist London” said it took over Deripaska’s swank digs “to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine, but also the people of Russia who never agreed to this madness.”
“This rich mansion will serve as a centre for refugee Support, for Ukrainians and people of all nations and all ethnicities,” it said.
The statement ended with a call to “SQUAT OLIGARCH’S PROPERTIES EVERYWHERE.”
Deripaska was put on Britain’s sanctions list last week over his ties to warmongering Putin.
Cops responded to his London mansion after the anarchist squatters took hold of it. It wasn’t clear if anyone was in the home when the protesters got inside.
The standoff between the London police and protesters ended about 8 p.m. local time.
A video clip posted on Twitter earlier showed a line of cops in riot gear being cursed at and berated by the activists on a balcony at the mansion.
“Do you know how many Ukrainian people woke up and saw us and saw that London cared? And this is the reaction they get?” one man yelled.
“Look at you! Armed and with shields, for peaceful protesters! Shame on you! Shame on you!”
In a statement afterward, police said, “The four people protesting on the balcony of a building in Belgrave Square … have come down and been arrested.”
Four others who tried to join the activists were arrested earlier, police said.
The incident took place at Deripaska’s $65 million mansion in a wealthy area of London that’s home to numerous foreign embassies.
A spokeswoman for the sanctioned oligarch said the home was owned by members of his family and likened the UK asset freeze imposed against him last week to “colluding with the sort of people who raid private property.
“It’s truly a disgrace that this is happening in a country that is supposed to respect private property and the rule of law,” the spokeswoman said.
A spokesman for Johnson said, “Squatting in residential buildings is illegal but we are working to identify the appropriate use for seized properties while owners are subject to sanctions.”
The action came as protesters also descended on a $5.75 million London apartment believed to be home to Polina Kovaleva, the 26-year-old stepdaughter of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the Sun said.
British politicians have also called for Kovaleva to be added to the sanctions list along with Deripaska and around 20 others.
Meanwhile, French police arrested a pair of activists who infiltrated a villa tied to Putin’s ex-son-in-law, Kirill Shamalov.
Frenchman Pierre Haffner and Sergei Saveliev, a Belarussian political refugee, broke into the eight-bedroom house Sunday and planned to use it to house Ukrainian refugees, said Vladimir Osechkin, a Biarritz-based Russian human rights activist.
“They called me to help…, to buy things in IKEA, the beds and the bedsheets. But their project is finished because the police have arrested them,” Osechkin said.
In a video recorded on the grounds outside the village, Saveliev said, “While the authorities of the US, UK and France look for ways to act against Russia economically, we are taking our own actions.”
Another video appeared to show him wandering through the villa and opening a window with a view of the Atlantic Ocean.
Shamalov, the deputy chairman of petrochemical firm Sibur, has been sanctioned by Britain but is not on a list of wealthy Russian business figures and other members of the country’s elite targeted by European Union sanctions.
Also Monday, a private jet believed to be used by sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich left Israel within 24 hours of landing there. It was headed to Istanbul, Turkey.
Photos showed Abramovich, who also holds Israeli and Portuguese citizenships, in a VIP lounge at the airport before the plane took off.
As for Deripaska, he is barred from entering the US and is wanted for murder, money laundering, bribery and racketeering.
The oligarch, who is estimated to be worth $4.1 billion, has bought at least two Manhattan mansions — in Greenwich Village and the Upper East Side — but ownership has been transferred to his relatives.
Last year, the FBI swarmed the $4.5 million Village townhouse on Gay Street as well as a 23,000-square-foot property in Washington, DC. The agency only said it was conducting “law enforcement activity at the home.”
His five-story Upper East Side mansion on East 64th Street — which he bought for $42.5 million in 2008 — was frozen by the US Department of the Treasury as part of Deripaska’s assets in the US in 2018.
He sued the Department of the Treasury over the sanctions, but a judge threw out his lawsuit. Deripaska has appealed the ruling.
Britain froze his assets last Thursday, saying he is closely associated with Putin and his at-war government.
London High Court documents from 2007 identified Deripaska as the beneficial owner of the Belgrave Square mansion. A judge in a court case the year before said the property and another house he owned outside the capital were then worth about $52 million.
Representatives of Deripaska did not respond to a request for comment.
In his last tweet, on Saturday, he said, “I remain committed to my belief that an immediate ceasefire and peace agreement as soon as humanly possible is the best and only solution to stop this madness in Ukraine.”
With Post Wires
