US issues warning over Russian 'dirty money' in the UK: Diplomats fear financial sanctions won't work against Putin if he invades Ukraine because of the illicit cash from his oligarch allies that is 'entrenched' in London

Daily Mail

American diplomats have expressed fears that any sanctions imposed on Russia over potential conflict in Ukraine would ultimately be ineffective due to the amount of Russian wealth in London.

The US, UK and a host of other NATO countries have promised to impose harsh sanctions on Russia should President Vladimir Putin proceed with an invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, and have delivered arms shipments to bolster Ukrainian forces. 

But US authorities are now concerned that Britain’s threats to levy tough economic penalties against Putin are empty after years of allowing Russian kleptocrats to funnel what sources described as ‘a hell of a lot of money’ into ‘Londongrad’.

‘The fear is that Russian money is so entrenched in London now that the opportunity to use it as leverage against Putin could be lost,’ a source in Washington told The Times.

‘Biden is talking about sanctioning Putin himself but that can only be symbolic’, the source asserted, claiming that billions in Russian cash is ‘sitting in houses in Knightsbridge and Belgravia right under your government’s noses.’

It comes after a report by the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) in 2020 made damning claims that the capital was being used as a ‘laundromat’ for oligarchs’ money which had bought a ‘new normal’ of Russian influence in the UK.

Establishing an accurate estimate for the amount of Russian money in London is extremely difficult, as the overwhelming majority of Russian funds invested in Britain enter the country via offshore accounts in various other countries.

But the ISC report found that Russian money has been flowing into the UK since the 90s, with investor schemes and relaxed regulations providing ideal conditions for kleptocrats to funnel tens if not hundreds of billions of pounds into the economy in return for a great deal of influence.  

The committee said ‘few questions if any were asked about the provenance of this considerable wealth’, and that ‘several members of the Russian elite are identified as being involved with charitable and/or political organisations in the UK, having donated to political parties, which positions them to assist Russian influence operations.’