London university and business school paid £15m via Kremlin-controlled bank

One of the country's leading universities and a top business school have been paid nearly £15m via a Kremlin-controlled bank in less than a decade - including more than £700,000 in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

- SAMUEL LOVETT SIMON MURPHY

As part of efforts to cut off the Russian economy, the UK sanctioned Sberbank - the CEO of which has been described as a close ally of Vladimir Putin on 1 March.

But an investigation by The Independent has found that Imperial College London and London Business School (LBS) have collectively been paid more than £740,000 by Sberbank Corporate University - funded by the Kremlin-controlled bank - since then.

Although there is no suggestion the payments are in breach of sanctions, they raise ethical questions about the institutions' financial relationships - with a leading campaigner condemning them for receiving the money. LBS entered into business with SCU following the annexation of Crimea, while Imperial set up its partnership with the university after the Salisbury poisonings.

In total, Imperial College and LBS have been paid £14.8m by Sberbank Corporate University to provide training in less than a decade. Imperial College said its partnership with Sberbank Corporate University "ceased in February". It received a payment of £484,500 on 17 March more than two weeks after Sberbank was sanctioned following the invasion.

LBS said it had "stopped all association with Russian organisations" by 4 March, and that three days later it received a £255,938 payment from Sberbank Corporate University "via Sberbank". The payment was, LBS said, "permitted through a general licence... [which] allowed organisations to settle their financial affairs in the UK through Sberbank until 31 March 2022"

Established in 2012, Sberbank Corporate University describes itself as an "Autonomous Non-Commercial Organization". However, Sberbank's CEO Herman Gref is also the chairman of the board of Sberbank Corporate University, according to its website. Gref was personally sanctioned by the UK on March 24.