Why Do So Many Russian Oligarchs Live In London?

Britain’s own parliamentary committees say that London’s openness to Russian money was used to hide and launder assets linked to the Russian state. The Foreign Affairs Committee reported this in 2018 and the Intelligence and Security Committee in 2020. The reports and the later reforms concern three areas: property held through overseas companies, an investor visa that granted residence to people who invested funds, and the lawyers, accountants and PR firms that served Russian clients. The UK closed the visa in 2022 and began registering overseas owners of property the same year. We found no reliable count of how many Russian billionaires live in London, and no figure for their share.

2018: the Foreign Affairs Committee

In “Moscow’s Gold: Russian Corruption in the UK”, published on 21 May 2018, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee wrote that, “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” (Foreign Affairs Committee, HC 932, 21 May 2018). The committee added that these assets are ones “on which the Kremlin can call at any time”. That is a finding about Putin’s allies and corrupt assets, not about every Russian who owns property in London.

That year the BBC reported, from Land Registry records, that more than 6,000 properties in Kensington and Chelsea were owned by companies registered overseas (BBC data reported by Yahoo News, 13 February 2018). The figure covers overseas companies of every nationality and says nothing about Russian ownership.

2020: the Intelligence and Security Committee

The Intelligence and Security Committee published its Russia report in July 2020. It said that the UK had “offered ideal mechanisms by which illicit finance could be recycled through what has been referred to as the London ‘laundromat’” (Intelligence and Security Committee, HC 632, 21 July 2020, paragraph 50). It also said that “Lawyers, accountants, estate agents and PR professionals have played a role, wittingly or unwittingly, in the extension of Russian influence” (same report, paragraph 51).

2022: the investor visa closes

The Tier 1 Investor visa had allowed entry and stay in the UK for applicants who invested funds in UK companies, and it launched in 2008. On 17 February 2022 the Home Secretary closed the route “to all new applicants from all nationalities with immediate effect” (UK government, 17 February 2022). A Home Office review published in January 2023 confirmed the closure as permanent; it found no evidence of a systematic failure of financial institutions carrying out due diligence checks, but noted that some institutions with weaker checks were sought out by applicants (Free Movement, 12 January 2023).

Property and the register of overseas owners

According to Transparency International, at least 150 properties in the UK, worth £1.5 billion, are owned by Russian businesspeople and officials who have been accused of corruption or of having links to the Kremlin. The figure is for the whole UK, not London alone, and was reported by openDemocracy on 25 February 2022 (openDemocracy, 25 February 2022).

Since 1 August 2022 the Register of Overseas Entities, created by the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022, requires overseas entities that want to buy, sell or transfer UK property or land to register with Companies House and name their beneficial owners or managing officers (Companies House guidance, published 25 July 2022).

Sanctions since 2022

As of March 2024 the UK had designated 2,001 individuals and entities under its Russia sanctions regime, and over £25 billion of Russian assets had been reported frozen (UK government, 21 March 2025). On 24 February 2026 the government announced nearly 300 new sanctions (UK government, 24 February 2026). Which individuals are sanctioned is covered in Who Are The Russian Oligarchs Sanctioned?.

The Chelsea sale proceeds

The UK government sanctioned Roman Abramovich in 2022 and says it did so because of his close ties with Putin. The proceeds of the sale of Chelsea FC have been frozen in a UK bank account since the sale in 2022. On 17 December 2025 the government said Abramovich “must now hand over more than £2.5 billion from the Chelsea FC sale”, as he had committed to do, to benefit victims of the invasion of Ukraine, or risk court action (UK government, 17 December 2025). In March 2026 his lawyers told the government that £2.35 billion from the sale were “wholly” his and that he intended to distribute the money for charitable purposes. In April 2026 he filed a complaint against the UK at the European Court of Human Rights over a Jersey investigation into his finances, which his representatives say is holding up the release of the funds (The Moscow Times, 23 April 2026, citing The Times). As of 13 November 2026 the government had published no newer statement on the case on GOV.UK.

About this article

This article was rewritten and checked on 13 November 2026. Every statement is linked to its source; the sources are listed below. Corrections follow our editorial policy.

Sources

Correction, 13 November 2026: An earlier version of this article said that about 25 percent of Russian billionaires have homes in London; we found no source for the figure and removed it. It attributed £1.5 billion of London property to Transparency International; the figure is for properties across the UK. It described 6,000 Kensington and Chelsea homes as held by unidentified, reportedly Russian-owned firms; the source covers overseas companies of all nationalities. It presented sanctions and action on Russian money as possibilities, which are now in force, and it described the investor visa as open, although it closed on 17 February 2022. Several unsourced statements about named individuals and firms were removed.

Articles You Might Enjoy Reading

Who Are The Russian Oligarchs Sanctioned?

How Do Russian Oligarchs Make Their Money?

Why Do Russian Oligarchs Have Yachts?