UK must grab Putin fortune

THE man who devised the first sanctions list against Putin’s cronies says the UK needs to go after the Russian president’s personal fortune.

US banker and anti-corruption activist Bill Browder says Putin’s assets are safe in London in the hands of a group of oligarchs – though the UK has promised “imminent” sanctions on the Russian president.

Mr Browder says: “Vladimir Putin’s a very selfish man. He doesn’t care about other people. So sanctioning people around him doesn’t really affect him. The only way is to hit his personal assets. We needed to make a list of top oligarchs two months ago and start hitting them five at a time, so he could see we are coming after his money. These men are well known to us, they’re on the Forbes rich list and some even own football teams.”

The remarks boost calls from Labour to sanction individuals such as Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who has previously denied involvement with Putin or doing anything to merit sanctions.

Browder made his fortune in Russia in the 1990s and early 2000s. He fought

STRATEGY Browder for a wave of sanctions against officials and oligarchs after lawyer friend Sergei Magnitsky died painfully in a Russian jail. Magnitsky, who had questioned Putin’s government, died in prison in 2009 after 90 months of being denied pancreatitis medicine. Mr Browder adds: “Sergei would be appalled right now. He was ambitious and patriotic. He wanted an honest country.”

In 2012 the US passed the Magnitsky Act, intended to target human rights abusers and corrupt officials in Russia.