Criminals, oligarchs and kleptocrats still own large chunks of the UK – and they’re using this loophole to stay anonymous | Oliver Bullough

The clampdown on the rich Russians using shell companies to buy up London, launched after Putin invaded Ukraine, hasn’t worked. Here’s whyWhen Vladimir Putin launched all-out war on Ukraine a year ago, the British government realised that letting Russian oligarchs buy large chunks of west London had been foolish. The long-cherished belief that the civilising air of Eaton Square might turn kleptocrats into democrats was finally – if belatedly – abandoned.The fruit of the g