Russian Oligarchs using UK fee paying schools

[Chocalata]

Is this really such a big thing as the papers make out? I quizzed friends with DC at boarding school and it really doesn't sound like there are many Russian children in their schools at all. I feel quite bad for any Russian children that are at the moment, it must be quite terrifying to be alone in a boarding school in another country, even if your parents are potentially money laundering and financially supporting an atrocious invasion.

Why "wonder" what school or schools boys that you have never met will go to?Why does it matter to you what school George goes to..

Harry was "much loved" at Eton..was he? That will be news to the boys and beaks that I know who were at school at the same time,he was regarded as a complete pita.He was passed over for House Captain..He failed to get enough votes to get into Pop,imagine you are a Prince of The Realm and you cant get enough support to be elected to The Eton Society..but sure, he was "much loved"

@nolanscrack
I have a ‘wondering’ sort of a job. That is interesting intel you have.
I suppose different people have different feelings about the same person? Be a bit dull if everyone felt the same?

Realistically, in London at least, you are going to get more rich Russians now than before because anyone who can leave and has a foreign bank account and some savings plus a good education/opportunity to work and live abroad, will leave or has already left. We know some Russian professional families and all have had siblings and cousins arrive in the last few weeks.
The sanctioned oligarchs list is quite narrow so that won’t be many anyway…
More ordinary, middle class Russians who sent their children abroad for an education and have not paid in advance/were relying on changing rubles on a termly basis will be more stuck. I bet anyone with a child close to 18 (conscription age) though will do all they can to keep them safe in the UK. Might even give up parental rights to UK social services, who knows what people end up doing in wars.

@workisnotawolf
That is interesting. Do they already have visas or are they rapidly applying now?
The Telegraph doesn't mention an increase in predicted fee due to new Russian immigrants arriving - have they missed a trick?

A total of seven Russian oligarchs have been sanctioned by the UK government. Russian oligarchs (kleptocrats) all made their money in the 90s through the break up of the Former Soviet Union.. Most (all?) are born in the 50s and 60s and their children are now grown up.
There may be the odd one with a much younger wife but I very much doubt whether they account for a significant number of children in British private schools.

@Chocolata - who knows, but it is a valid question. I would also like to know the answer including how many Russian citizen have long term multi entry visas to the UK already (e.g. the 2, 5 and 10 year standard long term visitor visa).

www.gov.uk/standard-visitor/apply-standard-visitor-visa

ukvisa.blog/2019/09/16/uk-visa-for-russian-citizens/
HOW MANY RUSSIANS APPLY FOR UK VISA?
More than 145K Russian citizens apply for UK visa from Russia every year. In fact, usually, more than 80% of applicants apply for the UK visit visa from Russia. For instance, in 2018 the share of UK visitor visas was 83.9% in the total visas issued to Russian nations. However, empirically, the UK visa refusal rate from Russia is less than 5%. Therefore, an overwhelming majority of the UK visa applications by the Russian citizens are usually successful.

Because quite frankly if Ukrainian refugees are a security risk(?!) and need a visa first after long, traumatic journeys, I would quite like to understand what is going on with visas for Russians to the UK, including new applications and those who already have valid visas.

@Ulchabhan The ISC seems to think differently though.

@workisnotawolf
Because quite frankly if Ukrainian refugees are a security risk(?!) and need a visa first after long, traumatic journeys, I would quite like to understand what is going on with visas for Russians to the UK, including new applications and those who already have valid visas.

Absolutely. Our visa system seems to be mired in murkiness.

What I really don’t like about this whole thing is if more normal Russians and their kids end up being affected, but dodgy rich Russians with Kremlin links who happened to have gotten British citizenship through golden visas or otherwise, end up getting off.
I would like to know which dual resident Russians would be on the sanctions list if it were not for their British citizenship. I think that is an important one to answer. Might they, for example, be on the sanctions list of other countries….

@workisnotawolf
That would be an article I would like to read.

[quote Chocalata]@chairbumg But that isn't the fault of the children over here stuck in boarding schools is it? Imagine how awful they must feel. Their mental health must be dreadful, they must feel like everyone hates them. But they are blameless.[/quote]
I agree. I feel really sad for the children, and for ordinary Russians and I worry that they may be subject to hate and harassment, when it's really not their fault that their leader is cuckoo.

@starray
Totally agree. The fault is not with the children it is with greedy schools

I think it’s simplistic to say that the fault is with the schools and all would be ok if they hadn’t been so greedy. They do not have the ability and means to do the kind of checks that banks would be expected to do (or the legal requirements). No school should or would just put a blanket ban on foreign students and it’s not just Russian fee payers that they may want to look into more closely. There’ll be a huge amount of dodgy Chinese and Middle Eastern money sloshing round the system too. Once those children are in the school, they will have a duty of care to them and can’t just send them straight home because Grandpa’s been sanctioned.

The issue is more that it’s been government policy to turn a blind eye because it suited them. It made sense from UK economic perspective to allow foreign criminals to invest in the UK economy and now we pay the price of those decisions.

@karmakameleon
The schools could have opted to focus on educating Uk children and not joining the facilities arm race to attract wealthy foreign families. They put prices up which made it a system that was unavailable for many uk families. That wasn’t a government choice was it? That is too simplistic an excuse.

I think you’re being naive in terms of how easy it is to spot the money laundering.

When a Russian billionaire comes to London and sets up home, buys a UK business (maybe a premiership football club or a newspaper) and wants to send his children to a local school, how many schools would realistically turn them away because the original source of funds came from plundering the Russian state? Everyone (not just the registrars at independent schools) saw them as legitimate business men until now, when the political climate has changed.

Or take a less obvious example. I have a relative who is married to a Russian woman. They met when they worked at the same law firm and would present as a “normal” middle class family to a school. They may be a “foreign” family (neither of them is British) but that’s not unusual in a city like London. Their money is explained because they both work as senior lawyers in the City. When they apply for schools, I can’t imagine a school would question their source of wealth and no school in London would survive if they dismissed “foreign” families like this in favour of “UK” families. They are just a wealthy professional London couple, like many thousands of others. However, when I casually asked my relative about her parents (we were meeting them at an event for extended family and I wanted to make sure they felt welcome) he shushed me and said don’t ask what her father does; he has a role in government. Obviously we know what that means in the context of this discussion, but why would a school investigate this? And if they did, what would they find? Lots of people work for the government and there’s nothing suspicious going on. Asking schools, who aren’t experts in financial crime, and don’t have the means to become experts, to detect money laundering is a stretch when the banks who process the money haven’t done so.

And just to add, unless Grandpa who “works in government” is funding the fees directly, nothing illegal would be going on. If you earn good money as a partner in a city law firm, you are allowed to spend that money in any way you like, whatever you’re parents may or may not have done.

The vast majority of independent schools spend most of their money on teaching staff and have high teacher/staff to pupil ratios. If they were to “save” money it would often have to be on staffing salaries so those jobs would be gone and perhaps go back to the state sector, but there are also ground, catering, admin etc staff. Every business can become more lean again if it has to. Remaining staff/teaching would have to increase efficiency and there would be less advertising of schools abroad. It can be done, if needs must.
However, if the intent is to stop taking dodgy foreign money then please start with London law firms, banks, management consultants, accounting firms etc and larger businesses rather than schools.

It’s also worth remembering that schools are usually careful not to take too many foreign students. They may try to attract some wealthy Russian/Chinese families but they don’t want too many as that would kill the British public school vibe that attracts them in the first place.

@workisnotawolf lots of my teacher friends seriously considering a move to state to retain a decent pension. indie schools not splashing on that side of staffing!

Abramovich daughter was going to Garden House School in Chelsea London. It says a lot about the owner of the school. Not the children’s fault but highly unethical and questionable. Schools can’t pretend they don’t know where assets are coming from. This has been well documented for years for anyone who cared. It’s too easy to close our eyes, schools particularly, should be irreproachable.

Also, out of interest, would those criticising schools for taking Russian students extend the same criticism to all Chelsea FC fans?

Actually, on a more relevant note, I've just remembered that one of our local (struggling) state schools has a football academy which is sponsored by Chelsea FC. I imagine they might be reconsidering the sponsorship now, but should they be considered 'guilty' in the same as a private school for taking the money in the first place?

I don't know the answer to this but I assume the Equality Act would be invoked by lawyers if a parent from Russia was exposed to a different level of scrutiny from, say, a French parent. Or a Nigerian one. Or someone with a Russian name but who are British.

Schools can't discriminate like this and not be open to allegations in the courts.

@SquishySquirmy

Worth noting that the vast majority of Russians in the UK are not oligarchs or friends of Putin. Most are just ordinary people getting on with their lives. Even the Russians wealthy enough to send kids to private school are mostly not super rich oligarchs - they are middle class people, often with well paid (but not super rich) jobs, just like the vast majority of British people who send kids to private school.

All the Russian born people I know in the UK are horrified by Putin, and desperately sad about what has become of their country. They have no control over what Putin does, and their children are completely blameless.

Yes, we need to crack down on money laundering and Putin's cronies.
But most Russians are not oligarchs and just because a few of them can afford to send dc to private school, it does not mean that they are money laundering.
Huge difference between being wealthy enough to afford the fees at a typical private school, and being oligarch-level rich.

I totally agree with this. The Russian friends I have are horrified by what is happening in their home country and all seem to be just normal families with no link at all to Putin or the Russian government. Many left Russia BECAUSE they disliked his governance even before this current war.

I feel that the current calls to force out children of Russians is a knee-jerk reaction and I worry it could lead to racism.

This wouldn't help the people of Ukraine and risks alienating the 'good' people of Russia who are often also victims of Putin's actions.

This article raises an interesting angle re charitable status and some of the types of families that are utilising private schools

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10589695/Private-schools-lose-charitable-status-money-linked-Putin-Labour-MP-says.html