Alright let's get more now on that breaking news.
The government has sanctioned Roman Abramovich,
the latest Russian oligarch to have his assets frozen by the UK government.
People connected to the Putin regime need to be sanctioned and that's what we're doing.
We've come to Downing Street where the government has announced a list of rich Russians
that it's putting sanctions against because of the war in Ukraine.
These rich Russian oligarchs own some of the most expensive properties in the UK.
One of them, is just a few 100 metres down here.
So one of the Russian oligarchs that was sanctioned is Igor Shuvalov,
he's a former deputy prime minister of Russia
and he bought two apartments in this building for £11.4 million.
He knocked them together to make one, giant palatial suite
that overlooks the Thames.
We've heard that his wife is living there, we're not sure if that's true,
but we'll just go and knock on the door and see what happens.
Igor Shuvalov, I was hoping that you could buzz the number.
How long has there been no one there?
Oh, really?
You're recording?
Yes.
No, you can't record.
We went to meet Jamison Firestone,
a British-American lawyer who worked with Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny
to expose corruption in and out of Russia.
Can you explain, in very simple terms,
how the richest people in Russia are former government officials?
Well, because in this country
one goes into government and then often when he comes out of government gets rich, right?
In Russia you go into government to get rich, you get rich by using your office.
Why is the UK so popular for these rich Russian oligarchs?
First of all it's a great place to live.
It's also a great place to park your money,
because you never know who's up and who's down in Russia,
so you want to have a few billion abroad, right?
In case something happens.
It's English speaking and we didn't ask many questions before,
we used to when we did the golden visas,
we basically, the question was can you pay and how fast?
When Russia invaded Ukraine,
the government started taking action against oligarchs close to Putin that live in London?
That's correct, but the government isn't taking enough actions.
Remember that we're not sanctioning a lot of their companies.
It's not like you've suddenly made them poor,
you've frozen a bunch of money, but they still own that asset
that's pumping out money.
This apartment is primarily for Shuvalov's wife, so she can continue to live here.
I don't know if they can take this apartment, because she is not under sanction.
If you want to send a message to Putin, you have to send these people home,
live in the mess that Vladimir Putin has created and sort it out.
The oligarchs own some of the most expensive properties in London in the UK.
We wanted to go on a quick tour to see some of them and if anyone would speak to us.
Another of the oligarchs added to the sanction list is Oleg Deripaska,
he's an aluminium billionaire.
One of his houses is here in Belgrave Square, it's home to embassies from around the world
and his house is just up here, so let's see who's there.
So, it doesn't look like there's anyone home.
This is Highgate Village in North London.
Known for it's celebrity residents, but also,
three billionaire oligarchs who have been subjected to EU sanctions.
Their houses, some of the most expensive in the country,
are all within five minutes walk with each other.
This is Witanhurst, it's the second biggest private home in the UK after Buckingham Palace.
It's got 65 rooms, reported to be worth £300 million.
It's as big below ground, as it is above ground.
It's owned by Andrey Gurev, a phosphate billionaire,
who's on the EU sanctions list, but not on the UK sanctions.
Do you live here?
Is there a doorbell?
Okay.
Next up we have a £48 million house owned by Alisher Usmanov,
who's known as Putin's problem solver and he's been subjected to both EU and UK sanctions.
He owns this £48 million house down here and also a 16th century mini-palace in Surrey.
This house here, is Athlone House worth £65 million.
It's owned by Mikhail Fridman who is on the EU sanctions list.
Although, he has come out to condemn Putin for the war in Ukraine.
Fridman is another billionaire,
he owns a conglomerate called Letter One that includes Holland and Barrett.
So I guess this is one last try to see if anyone will speak to us.
Oh, hi my name is Rupert Neate, I'm a reporter at the Guardian.
I was just wondering if it would be possible to speak to Mr Fridman.
I never really expected an oligarch to open the front door.
The government may be finally cracking down on the assets of Putin's cronies in the UK,
but it remains to be seen if any of these mansions will ever be seized
and offered as housing for Ukrainian refugees.