Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, governments and citizens worldwide have found different ways to display their disapproval. While countries continue to punish Russia in the form of sanctions, specific individuals have decided to go after Russian oligarchs’ property.
A group of activists in London recently stormed a mansion in a luxury residential area of the English city. The group consists of four people who declared the house “belongs to Ukrainian refugees.”
According to The Guardian, the mansion is owned by Oleg Deripaska (OH-leg DARE-ih-PASKUH), who is the billionaire president of Rusal (ROO-SAHL), a Russian aluminum company considered the second-largest producer of aluminum in the world. The Rusal website states 90% of its aluminum is produced using clean and renewable hydroelectric power.
The oligarch is apparently Russian President Vladimir Putin’s favorite industrialist and he has been sanctioned by the United Kingdom.
Deripaska’s entry on the UK sanctions list reads he “is or has been involved in obtaining benefit from or supporting the government of Russia.” The entry cites his interests in “Russian extractives and energy sectors, sectors of strategic significance to the government of Russia.”
Rusal was involved in a series of 2018 sanctions against companies with ties to Putin, which was part of a U.S. retaliation to Russian interference in the 2016 election. The Trump administration lifted the sanction in 2018 and there has been encouragement to reimpose it.
However, Reuters reported last week that Deripaska said peace in Ukraine is needed “as soon as possible.” He added, “The whole world will be different after these events and Russia will be different.”
Tell that to the activists who have “made peace with arrest.” They could be seen on the mansion’s balcony along signs that read “this property has been liberated” and ‘Putin go f— yourself.”
