London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Sep 17, 2025

Campaigner urges Johnson to freeze assets of thousands of Russians in UK

Campaigner urges Johnson to freeze assets of thousands of Russians in UK

Andrei Sidelnikov says he is making list of suspected Putin supporters to share with British government
A London-based anti-Putin campaigner has called on Boris Johnson to freeze the assets of thousands of Russian citizens in the UK in a bid to root out those with ties to the Kremlin.

Andrei Sidelnikov said he told the prime minister to impound the property and bank accounts of emigrants with unexplained wealth, connections with the Russian embassy in London, ties to pro-Putin oligarchs, and of those involved in organising cultural events linked to the Russian state.

Sidelnikov, a former associate of the former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko who was murdered in London in 2006, said their assets should be confiscated while corruption investigations were conducted, adding that he was compiling a list of suspected Putin supporters that would be shared with the UK government.

The opposition activist said his campaign group, Speak Up!, had founded a new project called Revenge, aimed at gathering the names of Russian emigrants who support Vladimir Putin.

“From this moment, all the people who supported this criminal regime must answer for this,” said Sidelnikov, who received political asylum in Britain in 2008 after telling officials his life would be in danger if he remained in Russia. “[If we] don’t close such doors for supporters of criminal Putin’s regime then the war will come to our homes.”

In a letter sent to Johnson after Russia invaded Ukraine last month, Sidelnikov also called on the UK government to cancel diplomatic relations with Russia, stop granting visas to Russian citizens until stricter immigration checks were put in place, and to push Nato to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

He added that British lawyers and financiers who helped corrupt Russian emigrants should face tougher legal penalties. “In the future, it must be a criminal offence to have relations with Russians who are supporting the fascist regime.”

Although the campaigner admitted there was a danger that such action could fuel Russophobia in the UK, he added: “The problem is that there are so [many] Russian citizens who supported Putin’s criminal regime. It’s very difficult to find them because it’s thousands, not 10 or 100, or 700.

“The Russian community is very angry about what I’m saying because so many of them have some links with Putin’s regime.”

Sidelnikov said that before the invasion of Ukraine he had sent the prime minister a list of 99 Russian citizens living in the UK who supported Putin.

Since the invasion, he said, more than 100 names had been added to this database, adding that his organisation would continue to gather information on allegedly corrupt Russian emigrants for the duration of the war.

“The plan is to give this not only to UK authorities, but to give this to the authorities in other countries, including the European Union and the US,” he said.

The activist said the names included people who had not been publicly identified as Putin supporters.

“We know those people who are living here and there are no sanctions on them,” he added. “They are trying to corrupt British society.”

He said a task force, consisting of the police, security services, government officials and MPs, should be established to investigate those accused of corruption.

Sidelnikov, 46, added that some emigrants in the UK were now pretending that they had never supported the Russian president.

“Some people are turning around after all the years they supported his regime, and now they’re putting on their Facebook, oh, we don’t want war, we’re not for war.”

The campaigner predicted that Russia would lose the war with Ukraine. But he expected that Putin would retain the presidency for the foreseeable future.

“There is no opposition,” Sidelnikov said. “Some of them were killed like my friend Litvinenko. A lot of my friends are in prison now. Some of them escaped from Russia.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
The German Owner of Politico Mathias Döpfner Eyes Further U.S. Media Expansion After Axel Springer Restructuring
Suspect Arrested: Utah Man in Custody for Charlie Kirk’s Fatal Shooting
In a politically motivated trial: Bolsonaro Sentenced to 27 Years for Plotting Coup After 2022 Defeat
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
ChatGPT CEO signals policy to alert authorities over suicidal youth after teen’s death
The British legal mafia hit back: Banksy mural of judge beating protester is scrubbed from London court
Surpassing Musk: Larry Ellison becomes the richest man in the world
Embarrassment for Starmer: He fired the ambassador photographed on Epstein’s 'pedophile island'
Manhunt after 'skilled sniper' shot Charlie Kirk. Footage: Suspect running on rooftop during panic
Effective Protest Results: Nepal’s Prime Minister Resigns as Youth-Led Unrest Shakes the Nation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
King Charles and Prince Harry Share First In-Person Moment in 19 Months
×