A group of squatters in London illegally settled in the former mansion of Gazprom's top manager, Andrey Goncharenko, located on one of the most expensive streets of the British capital: Eaton Square in Belgravia. This was reported by the British newspaper The Telegraph.

According to the newspaper, the house, which was purchased by Goncharenko in 2014 for 15 million pounds, had been empty so far. But in recent days activists moved in there, hanging out over the house a poster reading "US anti-government in exile" and promised to turn it into a shelter for the homeless. One of the squatters told the newspaper that before seizing the house, they had found out that it belonger to a Russian oligarch and settling in homeless people would not cause any harm to him. "For him, this is nothing, and the homeless can save their lives, especially in the snow and cold days," he explained.

According to The Telegraph, the squatters in the mansion have been repeatedly visited by Lori Love, a British hacker accused of hacking into the systems of the FBI, NASA, the Federal Reserve and other US agencies, who faces extradition to the United States.

The mansion captured by the squatters was built in 1825. For many years it had accomodated Instituto Cervantes (Spanish Cultural Centre). In 2014 it was bought for 15 million pounds by Goncharenko. The mansion on Eaton Square was one of the four properties purchased by Goncharenko in London over the past three years for a total amount of 250 million pounds.

Among the acquisitions of Goncharenko are Hanover Lodge house in the Royal Regent's Park, which cost him 120 million pounds; Mayfair House in St. James's Street, which cost 70 million pounds, and mansion in Hampstead, 41 million pounds.

The British media called Goncharenko "a shadow oligarch". Kommersant newspaper in 2014 reported that up to 2013, he had served as Deputy General Director of JSC Gazprom Invest Yug, the contractor company of Gazprom.