Roman Abramovich with Polina Deripaska, wife of tycoon Oleg, in Moscow

Russian oligarchs and multimillionaires are among 130 people who face having their assets frozen in a crackdown by British authorities on dirty money.

“Corrupt elites and their illicit wealth” are being investigated by the National Crime Agency (NCA) under new powers known as unexplained wealth orders.

Introduced in January, the orders force those suspected of serious crime to explain the origin of their assets, including properties worth more than £50,000.

NCA officials are understood to have scaled up investigations into businessmen linked to Vladimir Putin’s regime after the attempted murder of a Russian former spy in Salisbury.

Britain’s intelligence community blamed Russia for the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal, his daughter Yulia and a police officer in March.

Donald Toon, the NCA’s director of