A company was registered in the United Kingdom to the name of Vladimir Saldo (Ukrainian spelling: Volodymyr), the Russia-installed “governor” of Ukraine’s Kherson region, in November 2022 despite the sanctions, The Guardian says.
Grainholding Ltd. is a company with a registered capital of £1 million and an office in central London. Saldo owns half the shares and another Ukrainian, Grigory Smytyuk, has the rest. Grainholding’s line of work is growing and trading grain.
Companies House, the UK corporate registry, does not require proof of identity when people form companies. However, Saldo’s entry on the sanctions list has been updated since Grainholding was registered, to draw in details from the company’s incorporation documents, suggesting that the UK authorities were aware of its existence and regarded the paperwork as genuine.
A government spokesperson declined to say whether any action had been taken against Grainholding.