Activists arrested in France for occupying villa linked to Russian oligarch

French police on Monday arrested two activists who occupied a luxury villa in Biarritz, southern France, that they said was linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin's former son-in-law. Frenchman Pierre Haffner and Sergei Saveliev, a Belarussian political refugee, entered the house on Sunday, intending to offer the eight-bedroom residence to shelter Ukrainian refugees, Vladimir Osechkin, a Biarritz-based Russian human rights activist, told Reuters.

French police on Monday arrested two activists who occupied a luxury villa in Biarritz, southern France, that they said was linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin's former son-in-law.

Frenchman Pierre Haffner and Sergei Saveliev, a Belarussian political refugee, entered the house on Sunday, intending to offer the eight-bedroom residence to shelter Ukrainian refugees, Vladimir Osechkin, a Biarritz-based Russian human rights activist, told Reuters. "While the authorities of the U.S., UK and France look for ways to act against Russia economically, we are taking our own actions," Saveliev said in a video recorded in the palm-filled grounds of the villa that include a stagnant swimming pool.

Osechkin said the two activists targeted the villa because of its links to Kirill Shamalov, Putin's former son-in-law and the deputy chairman of petrochemical firm Sibur. A Sibur representative did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

Shamalov is not on a list of wealthy Russian business figures and other members of the country's elite targeted by EU sanctions over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, according to the EU Sanctions Map. Shamalov has been sanctioned by Britain. Osechkin is president of the "New Dissidents Foundation", which campaigns against human rights abuses in former Soviet states, and works closely with Haffner and Saveliev.

In a second video purportedly recorded inside the villa, Saveliev wanders through the rooms of the dimly lit property and opens a window to show a view of the Atlantic coast. The two detained activists said they found utility and council tax bills addressed to the company SCI Atlantic and to Tatiana Shamalov, according to Osechkin. SCI Atlantic is a real estate firm which French company records show counts Shamalov as a director.

Reuters was shown copies of the bills but could not independently verify their authenticity. Haffner posted a photograph of himself outside a police station on Facebook on Monday saying he had been arrested.

His lawyer, Kamalia Mekhtieva, said she had not been able to speak to Haffner. She said her client was accused of trespassing on private property. Local police were not available to comment. Osechkin said the property could comfortably house more than a dozen refugees. "They called me to help..., to buy things in IKEA, the beds and the bedsheets. But their project is finished because the police have arrested them."

In London on Monday, police moved in to evict squatters who had occupied a mansion suspected of belonging to Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, who was placed on Britain's sanctions list last week.

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