The Scotsman

‘Business as usual’ for Russians in London City despite British threat

- By ANGUS HOWARTH ross.mccafferty@jpress.co.uk

Ministers have been accused by MPS of risking national security by “turning a blind eye” to the Russian “dirty money” flowing through the City of London. The Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said despite the outcry over the Salisbury nerve agent attack, President Vladimir Putin and his allies were continuing to use the British capital as a base for their “corrupt assets”.

In a hard-hitting report, the committee said the UK government needed to show “stronger political leadership”, with further sanctions against “Kremlin-connected individu- 0 President Vladimir Putin: accused over ‘dirty money’ als” and action to close loopholes in the existing regime.

Assets stored and laundered in London, it said, were being used to support Mr Putin’s campaign to subvert the inter- national rules-based order and undermine Western allies and that combating it should be a “major UK foreign policy priority”.

The committee said it remained“businessas­usual” in the city for wealthy Russian oligarchs despite the attempt assassinat­ion of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia using a nerve agent, which has been blamed on the Kremlin.

“Despite the strong rhetoric, President Putin and his allies have been able to continue ‘business as usual’ by hiding and laundering their corrupt assets in London,” the committee said.

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