London's Metropolitan Police worked to remove pro-Ukrainian squatters from a London mansion on Monday, after the group gained access to 5 Belgrave Square and draped signs from the balcony.
The protestors hung a Ukrainian flag and signs that read “This property has been liberated,” and “Power breeds parasites,” Met Police said.
The mansion was seemingly targeted because of its alleged ties to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, one of the Russian billionaires sanctioned by the British government in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
London High Court documents from 2007 identified Deripaska as the owner of the property, however, the BBC reports that public records reveal the mansion is currently owned by Ravellot Limited, an offshore British Virgin Islands company.
CNBC reports that the named contact for Ravellot Limited, Graham Bonham-Carter, has five bank accounts that are now frozen over his alleged links to Deripaska.
“We can confirm that the NCA has secured two Account Freezing Orders in respect of five bank accounts held by Mr. Graham Bonham-Carter,” the National Crime Agency said in a statement to CNBC. “The orders were obtained on the basis that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the money in the accounts was derived from the laundering of funds of an individual subject to sanctions in the United States, namely Oleg Deripaska.”
In a statement, the protesters at the mansion identified themselves as anarchists.
Sky News reports that the group call themselves the London Makhnovists, after Nestor Makhno, who led an anarchist force that tried to form a stateless society in Ukraine during the Russian Revolution of 1917-23.
In addition to hanging signs, the protestors also danced and played music, and one man sang lines from the Dirty Dancing song “(I've Had) The Time of My Life,” according to Sky.
“By occupying this mansion, we want to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine, but also the people of Russia who never agreed to this madness," they said in the statement. "You occupy Ukraine, we occupy you."
After a search of the building, Met Police said they believed it had been cleared of people inside.
On Thursday, the British government put Deripaska, founder of metals and hydropower company EN+ and six other businesses, on an expanding list of sanctioned Putin allies.
Deripaska has been under U.S. sanctions since 2018.
The protesters allegedly called for the seven-bedroom mansion, which houses a Turkish bath and home cinema, to be opened to Ukrainian refugees.
"We're demanding this property belong to Ukrainian refugees,” one of the protestors reportedly said. “Their houses have been destroyed and this guy [Deripaska] supported the war."
The BBC reports that the protestors said they were doing the government's work for them.
"[Home secretary] Priti Patel, don't worry, we did your job – we did the housing, just send them here, we did the housing,” a protestor reportedly said. “Refugees welcome!”
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