The levelling up secretary Michael Gove has revealed he is pushing for multi-million pound UK mansions owned by allies of Vladimir Putin to be seized to house Ukrainians.

Gove said he is looking at how to seize the mansions of Putin’s elite for “humanitarian and other purposes” of homes in the capital which is also known as “Londongrad.”

Gove told the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme, “I want to explore an option which would allow us to use the homes and properties of sanctioned individuals, as long as they are sanctioned, for humanitarian and other purposes.

Read more:

Russian homebuyers spent £190m on London property last year

Russian oligarch’s £25m London mansion taken over by squatters over Ukraine protest

The Russian property market hotspots with £500m in bricks and mortar value

Sanctions hit seven Russian oligarchs including Roman Abramovich as ‘they are complicit’ Putin’s ‘aggression’

“There’s quite a high legal bar to cross and we’re not talking about permanent confiscation.

“But we are saying: ‘you’re sanctioned, you’re supporting Putin, this home is here, you have no right to use or profit from it – and more than that, while you are not using or profiting from it, if we can use it in order to help others, let’s do that’.”

Two weeks ago Gove, raised the prospect of seizing oligarchs’ homes in Cabinet has been hit with opposition by some senior Tory MPs.

A backer of Gove’s plan told the Daily Mail, “The opposition is being led by oligarch apologists who hide behind the rule of law.”