The partner of a former Russian authorities and ally of President Vladimir Putin charged in the U.K.
with dodging sanctions tearfully required to the stand in London on Wednesday, with her spouse looking on.Ekaterina Ovsiannikova, 47, looked noticeably disturbed as she informed the court how she believed her relationship with Dmitrii Ovsiannikov, 48, would creator as a result of the travel restriction imposed for his role in Russian-occupied Crimea.Along with Ovsiannikovs sibling Alexei Owsjanikow, 47, the couple have actually been standing trial at Southwark Crown Court given that March 18 as the very first people to be charged under the U.K.s Russia Regulations law.If convicted they face fines and a maximum of 7 years jail time, with Ovsiannikova stating ahead of her taking the stand that the ongoing procedures had actually had a result on her children.Ovsiannikov, who is out on bail, was designated by Putin as governor of Sevastopol 2 years after the peninsulas annexation by Russia from Ukraine in 2014.
As a result, the European Union imposed monetary sanctions on him in 2017, which the U.K.
kept after leaving the EU.While the EU lifted its sanctions in February 2023, the U.K.
ones still apply.Ovsiannikov, who likewise worked as Russias deputy industry and trade minister, is dealing with seven counts of circumventing sanctions between February 2023 and January 2024.
He is accused of opening a British bank account, which then got 76,000 pounds ($98,000) from his wife to be utilized to buy a car.The bank understood he was on the U.K.
sanctions list and froze the account.
His brother Owsjanikow bought the automobile instead.Alexei also paid more than 40,000 pounds ($51,500) in school fees for his bros two youngest children to go to a school in London, which district attorneys say was likewise a breach of the sanctions.Ovsiannikov traveled from Russia to Turkey in August 2022 and used online for a British passport, which was granted regardless of the sanctions as his daddy was born in the U.K.He got here in the U.K.
to join his other half and 2 younger kids in February 2023.
The defense began presenting their case on Wednesday, with Ovsiannikova talking to the court through an interpreter.Describing the time when she was living in London while he stayed in Turkey due to the travel restriction, she stated: I thought it was the end of our relationship.
In a statement read out on Tuesday, she stated that she did not understand her partner went through a U.K.
property freeze and thought he did not either.
Im really upset about this circumstance and the impact on my children, she added.The trial is expected to last around 3 weeks in total.