The million pound London properties owned by Putin’s regime
Vladimir Putin’s regime owns luxury properties across London together worth tens of millions of pounds, a Telegraph investigation reveals.
The portfolio of houses and flats owned by the Russian Federation can be found in some of the capital’s most upmarket postcodes.
Earlier this month, the Government removed the diplomatic status of “several Russian properties” suspected of being used as spy bases, but declined to say which ones they were.
They are known to include the luxury 50-room Seacox Heath manor in Hawkhurst, Sussex, which is used as a weekend retreat by Russian embassy staff, and the embassy’s trade and defence section in Highgate, north London.
Stripping the Russian-owned buildings of their diplomatic status means they no longer have legal immunity from the jurisdiction of Britain and could therefore be entered by law enforcement authorities.
The Telegraph has identified a total of 10 additional properties in London owned by the Russian Federation, based on HM Land Registry records.
The revelation of Putin’s property empire in the heart of the capital comes as demand has soared for Russian assets to be seized and sold off to support Ukraine’s war effort.
Several of the properties appeared to include a caution in their title deeds that means they could not be sold without Ukraine’s consent.
Upon visiting the properties this week, many of them appeared in a shabby condition, despite their upmarket surroundings, with neighbours reporting that several had been vacant for years. Those that were occupied appeared to have Russian speakers living in them.
Highgate - £2.4m
Not far from the cemetery where Karl Marx and Alexander Litvinenko are buried and Hampstead Heath’s swimming ponds is this property owned by the Russian Federation on a hill in a leafy area of north London.
Also nearby are the Russian’s defence attaché’s office and, next to the one-time home of John Betjeman, the trade delegation, which has previously been described by UK authorities as a “den of spies”.
When The Telegraph visited the Russia-linked house opposite, it appeared in a state of disrepair, with neighbours reporting it had been vacant for “several years” at least.
The path and driveway were overgrown with weeds sprouting between gaps in the tiles, and the black metal gates in front of the house were padlocked shut.
A smaller terraced house in the same prime location sold for £2.4 million last year.
A long-term neighbour said the property is still owned by the Russian Federation and that she has occasionally had to phone up the trade delegation to ask them to deal with overhanging trees.
“Russian people used to live there,” she said. “When it was perestroika, we had a party.”
Highgate - £2.3m
Located about 80 yards around the corner is another Russia-linked property that has fallen on hard times. Long grass and wildflowers have overrun the garden and grubby white paint is peeling off the outside walls.
It is one of four properties on a private estate thought to be owned by the Russian Federation.
A neighbour said that the nearby Russian trade delegation occasionally sends someone to cut the grass in the front garden. She added that the British intelligence services own the house next door so they can “keep an eye on each other”.
The house is valued at around £2.3 million, based on the cost of a house further down the street that sold last year. One neighbour said she hadn’t seen anyone go in or out for the past 35 years.
A third neighbour said: “You hear stories about people moving into houses in the area and finding surveillance equipment in the attic.”
Kensington - £1.5m
Set back from the street, the courtyard of the Grade II-listed red brick building is spotted with pot plants and has a parking spot for a silver Volkswagen with diplomatic plates.
The property sits on a road where flats have sold for an average of £1,487,000 over the past year.
A folk mural is painted onto the wall of a portico that leads up to the front door, which has two CCTV cameras trained on it and a gold plaque confirming the building is the “permanent mission of the Russian Federation to the international maritime organisation”.
A middle-aged man with a Russian accent came to the door wearing a white vest and confirmed he worked for Russia at the international maritime organisation.
He also said the building was still owned by the Russian Federation, and that its residents were Russian “from top to down”.
Holland Park - £1.65m
In an area including Ed Sheeran and Elton John among its A-list residents, the property lies on a street where apartments go for around £1.65 million.