The government is being urged to seize the property of a Putin “crony” who owns a luxury Westminster flat just five minutes’ walk from parliament.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer demanded to know why Russia’s former deputy prime minister, Igor Shuvalov – one of Putin’s cronies who “dip their hands in the blood of Putin’s war” – had not been sanctioned by the UK.
“Shuvalov owns two flats, not five minutes’ walk from this house. They are worth over £11m,” Starmer said yesterday. “He is on the EU sanctions list, but he is not on the UK sanctions list. When will the prime minister sort this out?”
The properties referred to by the Labour leader are two flats at Whitehall Court that were converted into one large apartment with views over the Thames after their purchase in 2014 for £11.4m.
Transparency International said it was “unclear how Shuvalov was able to afford the apartment”, as his official salary was only £112,000 and his declared wealth just £634,000.
Transparency International claimed the ownership of the apartment made Shuvalov a candidate for an unexplained wealth order investigation. However, no such inquiry has been carried out.
