Guardian: UK business registered to Russian proxy official despite sanctions

A U.K. business was allegedly registered to Russian proxy official Volodymyr Saldo five months after his name was added to a sanctions list, the Guardian reported on April 27.

Saldo has been working on behalf of Russia in occupied Kherson Oblast, where he became the head of the regional occupation administration. He has also met with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and received Russian state honors.

Russia's all-out war in Ukraine has been going on for more than one year, yet "proposals that would make it a crime for people under sanctions to set up U.K. companies have yet to become law," according to the Guardian.

Saldo's assets in the U.K. were frozen in June 2022 and he is banned from entering the country. British officials have said he is guilty of "promoting policies and actions which destabilize Ukraine and undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty or independence of Ukraine."

Despite this, the Guardian wrote that they found a company of which Saldo has been listed as the proprietor since November registered in an office block in the Hatton Garden district of central London. A representative of the property then told the Guardian that the company has no connection with the property and only five months later was the address altered in a public filing.

However, the company, Grainholding Ltd., is apparently still listed as an active company, according to the Guardian.

Company documents show that Grainholding Ltd. holds over $1.2 million in capital, half of which is allegedly owned by Saldo.

According to Ukraine's National Agency on Corruption Prevention, Saldo was sanctioned not only by the U.K. but Ukraine, the U.S., the European Union, Canada, Switzerland, Japan, and New Zealand after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.

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