The new charge on this land leaves Russia vulnerable to more legal action regarding its UK properties. The Telegraph has identified 16 houses and flats in Holland Park, South Kensington, Chelsea, Fulham, Highgate and Kensington owned directly by the Russian Federation with an estimated value of £200m, according to Land Registry records.
Many are clustered near Highgate, north London, which is popular with Russian diplomats and oligarchs. But some houses and apartments are based on less fashionable roads in Fulham and Camden.
The Russian Embassy claims that all overseas properties are used for diplomatic purposes and so immune from being sequestrated by a court. But The Telegraph has established that in recent years some flats in these houses have been rented out to British and foreign individuals.
In 2011, a vast £30m mansion on Holland Park was divided into five flats which have since been rented out to a City broker, a public relations manager and an IT consultant. A recent planning application was submitted by a Russian construction company which has handled state contracts, notably for Gazprom.
Across town in South Kensington, a £15m house owned by the Kremlin was split into five apartments and rented out to a Swiss business school graduate, an Iranian management consultant and a British property developer. And a mansion on Highgate West Hill was occupied by a British family for many years.
Around the corner in Highgate, a nondescript two storey house is occupied by a senior Russian trade mission official. But Companies House records show the primary resident is a Russian businessman who is a director of at least nine UK companies in the public relations and travel industry. His longest-serving directorships were with a travel company which during the Cold War worked primarily for the KGB in Moscow as tour guides.
