The anti-corruption organization Transparency International estimates that Russians who are accused of financial crimes or have close links to the Kremlin own properties in Great Britain worth just over SEK 19 billion.
Many of the properties are located in London’s poshest and most expensive areas, such as Belgravia, Knightsbridge and Mayfair in the Westminster district – or in Kensington and Chelsea.
Driven up the prices
The phenomenon known as Londongrad has, among other things, driven up property prices in housing shortage London. But it has also led to previously thriving neighborhoods now lacking life.
– There are properties that these people buy to actually live in. Then there are properties that they buy as a pure investment. The lights are always off there, no one is home. You can say that it has created a kind of desert in London, says Tom Keatinge from the respected British think tank RUSI.
Tom Keatinge is one of many who for a long time called for tougher measures to stop Russian money laundering. Another is Dame Margaret Hodge, Labor MP.
– It is tragic that it took a Russian invasion of Ukraine for the issue of dirty money and especially Russian dirty money to come into political focus, says Margaret Hodge.
Frozen assets worth billions
When Russia invaded Ukraine for a year, the situation changed.
Since then, the British government has imposed sanctions on more than 1,200 individuals with links to the Kremlin. Russian assets worth a total of SEK 225 billion are frozen. In August last year, new legislation came into force which means that property owners in the UK can no longer hide behind anonymous shell companies. And further new legislation is underway.
But both Margaret Hodge and Tom Keatinge believe that more measures are needed to put an end to London degree.
– If the UK continues on the beaten path, then in five years we can say that it is the end of London degree. But the big question is whether the government really has the stamina and appetite to continue in the same way as in the past year. It remains to be seen, says Tom Keatinge.