The British company was registered through intermediaries in the name of Russian official Volodymyr Saldo five months after his name was added to the sanctions list, The Guardian reports.

Russian President Vladimir Putin surrounded by Moscow-appointed heads of Kherson and Zaporizhia Volodymyr Saldo and Yevgeny Balitskyi, leader of Donetsk separatists Denys Pusilin and leader of Luhansk separatists Leonid PasichnykPhoto: Gavriil Grigorov / AFP / Profimedia Images

Saldo worked on behalf of Russia in the occupied Kherson region, where he became the head of the regional occupation administration. He also met with Vladimir Putin and received Russian state awards.

Russia’s all-out war in Ukraine has been going on for more than a year, but “proposals would make it a crime for people under sanctions to set up companies in the UK,” the Guardian reports.

Saldo’s UK assets were frozen in June 2022 and he is banned from entering the country.

British officials said he was guilty of “promoting policies and actions that destabilize Ukraine and undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty or independence of Ukraine.”

Despite this, The Guardian wrote that it found a company whose owner Saldo has been listed since November as registered in an office building in the Hatton Garden area of ​​central London.

A representative for the property told The Guardian at the time that the company had nothing to do with the property and it was only five months later that the address was changed in a public file.

However, Grainholding Ltd. is apparently still listed as active.

Company documents show Grainholding Ltd has more than $1.2 million in capital, half of which is said to be owned by Saldo.

According to the NAZK of Ukraine, after the start of the large-scale campaign, Saldo was sanctioned not only by Great Britain, but also by Ukraine, the USA, the European Union, Canada, Switzerland, Japan and New Zealand. invasion of Russia, Kyiv Independent quotes.