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For years, Londoners have largely ignored the wealthy Russian oligarchs living among them.
多年来，伦敦人在很大程度上忽视了生活在他们中间的富有的俄罗斯寡头。
Locals in affluent Highgate in North London certainly knew they were there.
伦敦北部富裕的海盖特当地人当然知道他们在那里。
Every weekend, tours of billionaires’ homes walk past Russian-owned Witanhurst, the United Kingdom’s second-largest house after Buckingham Palace.
每个周末，参观亿万富翁住宅的旅游团都会经过俄罗斯人所有的威坦赫斯特，这是英国仅次于白金汉宫的第二大住宅。
So, too, were they aware a couple of miles away in Belgravia, where Londoners have renamed Eaton Square “Red Square,” due to its high concentration of Russian tycoon homeowners
他们也知道，几英里外的贝尔格莱维亚，伦敦人把伊顿广场改名为“红场”，因为那里聚集了许多俄罗斯大亨房主
– among them Roman Abramovich and Oleg Deripaska, two billionaires closely allied with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
其中包括罗曼·阿布拉莫维奇和奥列格·德里帕斯卡，这两位亿万富翁与俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京关系密切。
But the lack of public scrutiny – and the active welcome the oligarchs have received from multiple British governments over the years – looks set to come to an end.
但缺乏公众监督的局面——以及多年来寡头们受到多届英国政府的积极欢迎——似乎即将结束。
As Mr. Putin pushes onward with war in Ukraine and renewed questions are being raised about the origins of oligarchs’ fortunes, the United Kingdom is moving to “clamp down on Russian money in the U.K.,” announced Prime Minister Boris Johnson on March 1.
随着普京在乌克兰继续推进战争，有关寡头财富来源的问题再次浮出水面，英国首相鲍里斯·约翰逊3月1日宣布，英国正在采取行动，“严加限制俄罗斯在英国的资金”。
That signals a long-awaited U-turn in the historically laissez-faire attitudes adopted towards oligarchs and their “Londongrad” playground.
这标志着人们期待已久的对寡头及其“伦敦格勒”游乐场采取的历史上的自由放任态度出现了180度大转弯。
In three decades, London has established itself as the global hub of choice for Russian “dirty” money.
三十年来，伦敦已成为俄罗斯“脏钱”的全球首选中心。
Russian oligarchs are believed to have siphoned money from Russian state assets, often with Mr. Putin’s assistance or approval.
据信，俄罗斯寡头经常在普京的协助或批准下，从俄罗斯国有资产中抽取资金。
They eventually transferred that wealth to the U.K. for safekeeping and investment – which the country welcomed with few questions, according to a 2020 intelligence and security parliamentary committee report.
他们最终将这些财富转移到英国进行保管和投资——根据2020年情报和安全议会委员会的一份报告，英国对此表示欢迎。
According to the report, that welcome “offered ideal mechanisms by which illicit finance could be recycled through what has been referred to as the London ‘laundromat’.
报告称，这种欢迎“提供了理想的机制，可以通过被称为伦敦‘自助洗衣店’的方式回收非法资金。
The money was also invested in extending patronage and building influence across a wide sphere of the British establishment
这笔钱还用于在英国机构的广泛范围内扩大赞助和建立影响力
– PR firms, charities, political interests, academia and cultural institutions were all willing beneficiaries of Russian money, contributing to a ‘reputation laundering’ process.”
——公关公司、慈善机构、政治利益集团、学术界和文化机构都愿意从俄罗斯的资金中受益，为‘名誉洗钱’过程做出贡献。”
