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Squatters occupy London mansion of Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska

Squatters have occupied the London mansion of Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska.

Squatters have occupied the London mansion of Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska. Photo: EPA

Squatters have occupied the London mansion of Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, who was placed on Britain’s sanctions list last week, unfurling a Ukrainian flag and a banner saying ‘This property has been liberated’.

Police said they were called in early on Monday (local time), after it was reported the squatters had entered the multimillion-pound mansion in Belgrave Square, in an upmarket area of the British capital that is home to numerous foreign embassies.

“By occupying this mansion, we want to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine, but also the people of Russia who never agreed to this madness,” said a statement from squatters, who described themselves as anarchists.

“You occupy Ukraine, we occupy you,” the statement said.

Several people gained entry and hung banners from upstairs windows, the police said in a statement.

Police did not say who reported the incident.

Britain froze the assets of Mr Deripaska last Thursday. He is one of the Russian oligarchs targeted following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which the Kremlin has called a “special military operation”.

Mr Deripaska, who has stakes in En+ Group, a major extractives and energy company that owns UC Rusal, one of the world’s major aluminium producers, is worth an estimated £2 billion ($3.6 billion) and has a multimillion-pound property portfolio in Britain, the British government said at the time.

Britain says Mr Deripaska is closely associated with the government of Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

London High Court documents from 2007 identified Mr 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 £40 million ($52.1 million).

Representatives of Mr Deripaska did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Shortly before the sanctions were imposed, Mr Deripaska said peace was needed as soon as possible in Ukraine and warned that Russia would be different after the conflict.

In their statement, the squatters said the mansion would “serve as a centre for refugee support” and that other properties would also be targeted.

Britain has sanctioned about 20 Russian oligarchs, including Roman Abramovich and Alisher Usmanov, freezing their properties across London and banning them from coming to Britain.

-Reuters

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