Bank of Scotland fined £160,000 over account for sanctioned Putin ally

Dmitrii Ovsiannikov arriving at Southwark crown court in south London last April where he was on trial for sanctions breaches. Photograph: Benjamin Cremel/AFP/Getty Images

The UK’s sanctions watchdog has fined Bank of Scotland £160,000 for opening a bank account and processing payments for an ally of Vladimir Putin.

Dmitrii Ovsiannikov, who became the first person to be prosecuted for circumventing UK sanctions last year, made 24 payments totalling £77,383 to or from a personal current account during February 2023.