A Russian politician appointed by President Vladimir Putin as governor of Russia-annexed Crimea's largest city was jailed for 40 months on Friday after being found guilty of breaching British sanctions, the first such conviction in Britain.
Dmitrii Ovsiannikov, 48, – who was appointed governor of Sevastopol in July 2016, two years after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine – was found guilty earlier this week 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.
After losing his job as the Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade in Russia, Ovsiannikov applied to have his EU sanctions lifted and moved to London.
He was accused of getting his wife Ekaterina Ovsiannikova, 47, to pay 76,000 pounds ($97,000) into his account, some of which was so that he could buy a Mercedes-Benz SUV.