Tensions rise at the £3bn Surrey estate Russian oligarchs call home
The warning to rich Russians linked to Putin that the UK government “will come after you” and ensure oligarchs have “nowhere to hide” is likely to hit hard at the gated luxury housing estate in Surrey dubbed “Britain’s Beverly Hills”.
Russians and those from former Soviet states own more than a quarter of the 430 luxurious homes in St George’s Hill, a heavily guarded 964-acre estate near Weybridge, Surrey, where mansions have changed hands for more than £20m each.
Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, said on Sunday that the government was drawing up a “hitlist” of oligarchs with links to Putin who will be added to the sanctions list in coming days and weeks.
“We have to make it deeply painful for the oligarchs that support the Putin regime. There are over a hundred Russian billionaires,” she told the Sunday Times. “Nothing is off the table in terms of who or what we are targeting. We are very clear about that – we are very prepared to do what it takes.”
Brad, one of six fluorescent jacket-wearing security guards who prevented the Guardian from entering St George’s Hill, said there were more Russians living on the estate now than at any time in his six years working at the gate.
“I imagine they are getting a bit nervous now about what Boris [Johnson] might do now that Putin has invaded Ukraine,” he said. “But, there’s one thing I can tell you for sure, they won’t want to talk to you and we are calling the police unless you leave now.”
Brad was right. None of the drivers of cars leaving the estate, including the chauffeur of a white Bentley, would speak about the potential sanctions threat.
However, a few minutes’ walk away at a council estate that backs on the estate it was hard to stop Joy, a 75-year-old retired furniture
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