The Mystery Surrounding the Suspicious Deaths of Russian Oligarchs | 60 Minutes Australia

Nov 26, 2023 | Russian oligarchs and prominent politicians are suddenly dying - falling out of windows, getting poisoned or being involved of a plane crash. Before their deaths, they happen to have spoken out against Russian leader Vladimir Putin. But their deaths have not been traced back to the regime.

Oligarchs' 'Hatred' for Putin Grows as He Stops Caring about Ukraine Losses | Bill Browder

Sept 25, 2023 | "There's not enough soldiers on the front line and so Putin doesn't rotate them out. He doesn't care. 300,000 Russian men have died in this war." Only violence holds Putin in power as he becomes hated by his inner circle and callous about military failures in Ukraine, says Bill Browder on Times Radio's Frontline.

Life Under U.K. Sanctions: Chauffers, Chefs and $1 Million Allowances

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Despite tough talk, Britain’s new sanctions program against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has proved shaky. Some oligarchs have received generous exemptions. Officials have at times overreached.

Britain has placed the Russian banking tycoon Mikhail Fridman, center, under sanctions, but allowed him to keep a 19-person household staff last year. | Hollie Adams/Bloomberg
The British government has allowed Russian oligarchs to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on perks like private chefs, chauffeurs and housekeepers, despite ostensibly having their bank accounts frozen, documents show.

The exemptions, known as licenses, are an example of how the United Kingdom’s new financial sanctions system, put together after Brexit, has proved shaky. In some cases, oligarchs were allowed more than $1 million a year in living expenses. In others, officials had to abandon criminal investigations and remove sanctions after legal battles.

“We will keep increasing the pressure on Putin and cut off funding for the Russian war machine,” the British foreign secretary said last spring as she announced Russian sanctions in the first weeks of the war in Ukraine.

In the months that followed, Britain was quietly more welcoming. It granted the Russian banking tycoon Mikhail Fridman a license to pay for 19 members of staff, including drivers, private chefs, housekeepers and handymen, during the first year of the war, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times and people directly familiar with the licenses. The payment came to 300,000 pounds (almost $400,000) over about ten months. Mr. Fridman also received a roughly £7,000 monthly allowance to cover his family’s basic needs. » | Jane Bradley, Reporting from London | Thursday, July 27, 2023

Boris Johnson's KGB Links EXPOSED - John Sweeney | FULL Documentary

Jun 29, 2023

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Truth To Power —Londongrad: How Russian Oligarchs Shape British Politics

Apr 15, 2023 | Back in the last century, when the sun was finally setting on Britain's empire, some of the oligarchs of the day came up with a cunning plan. Using certain so-called British Overseas Territories, for example the Cayman Islands, as tax havens for their ill gotten gains. But it wasn’t just the oligarchs of empire, investing their riches made on the backs of indigenous populations all over the world, oh no! Even if you were a common or garden criminal, a corrupt business tycoon, a drug trafficker, or just a run-of-the-mill fraudster, then Britain was your friend. The City of London became the world’s global money laundromat, and Brexit has relaxed regulations even further. And who has the most money to hide over the past few decades. Which country has the highest number of gangsters and unscrupulous businessmen in need of the services of so-called "Londongrad"? The answer of course is Russia.

MI6 Expert on Boris Johnson, Alexander Lebedev and the UK's Russia Problem | New Statesman

Aug 5, 2022 Boris Johnson has finally admitted he met former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev in private while Foreign Secretary. Christopher Steele, former M16 agent and author of the famous "Trump Dossier", tells the New Statesman what the security risks are for the United Kingdom.

The day before Boris Johnson agreed to step down as Prime Minister (after more than 50 members of his government had resigned), he admitted to the Liaison Committee something that had been long suspected: while he was Foreign Secretary he had met privately with former KGB agent and Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev, without security or aides.

In this video interview, former MI6 agent and intelligence expert Christopher Steele explains why the off-books meeting between Johnson and Lebedev poses a security risk to the UK, and what it tells us about the influence of Russia and Vladimir Putin at the highest levels of UK government.

Boris Johnson is also friends with Alexander Lebedev's son, Evgeny Lebedev. The younger Lebedev is the proprietor of the London Evening Standard and Independent newspapers, and in 2020 was nominated for a seat in the House of Lords by none other than Boris Johnson. Here Steele also discusses the influence his peerage might allow Lord Lebedev to exert, and the types of intelligence it would give him access to.

Christopher Steele was an MI6 intelligence operative, who ran the Russia desk at the MI6 London headquarters. During the 2016 US presidential elections Steele become notorious for compiling a dossier which claimed that Russia had compiled a file of compromising information on Donald Trump. This became known as the "Trump dossier".

Blacklist Dubai over Failure to Crack Down on Russian Oligarchs, Say Campaigners

THE OBSERVER: UAE has become haven for superyachts, private jets and ‘dirty money’ since invasion of Ukraine, but has taken no action

The 387ft Motor Yacht A belonging to Russian oligarch Andrey Melnichenko anchored in the port of Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. Photograph: Kamran Jebreili/AP
Campaigners and politicians are calling for the United Arab Emirates to be blacklisted over its failures to combat the flow of “dirty money” and to enforce sanctions imposed on Russian oligarchs.

The Gulf state has emerged as a key refuge for the Russian super-rich fleeing the impact of global sanctions, with private jets and superyachts linked to oligarchs heading to the UAE after the invasion of Ukraine.

Bill Browder, the financier and critic of Vladimir Putin’s regime, said: “Dubai has long been a safe place for dirty money. It should now be put on financial blacklists and its leaders shouldn’t be welcome here.”

He said secondary sanctions should be imposed on the UAE unless it provided assistance to countries pursuing the oligarchs’ assets. » | Jon Ungoed-Thomas | Saturday, June 11, 2022

Line of Duty and Boris Johnson on Russian Oligarchs

Canada Puts Sanctions on Russian Media Tycoon Alexander Lebedev

THE GUARDIAN: Oligarch with links to Boris Johnson among 14 businessmen and associates of Vladimir Putin targeted

Alexander Lebedev finances the Russian opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta. His son Evgeny owns the UK’s Evening Standard and Independent. Photograph: Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images
Canada has put sanctions on Alexander Lebedev, the former KGB agent who little more than a decade ago bought the Evening Standard and the Independent.

The Russian billionaire was named in a fresh wave of sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s regime announced on Friday that also included a ban on the import of Russian vodka, diamonds and caviar, according to the Globe and Mail.

Lebedev, whose links to the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, are well documented, has not been subjected to sanctions by the UK.

The Canadian government said the ban on trade in luxury goods and the addition of 14 oligarchs and associates of the Russian president was aligned with similar measures imposed by allies such as the US and the EU, and would “help to mitigate the potential for Russian oligarchs to circumvent restrictions in other luxury goods markets”. » | Miranda Bryant | Saturday, May 21, 2022

The True Effectiveness of Russian Sanctions | The Mehdi Hasan Show

Apr 28, 2022 • The war in Ukraine is not just being fought with guns and missiles, but also with economic sanctions on Russia. But how effective will these sanctions be against the billionaire Russian oligarchs? Author and Putin critic Bill Browder knows — and he shares his thoughts with Katie Phang.

How the KGB Shaped Vladimir Putin and His Russian Oligarchs | It's Complicated

Apr 21, 2022 • As Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February, countries around the world imposed severe sanctions on a group of influential Russian billionaires known as oligarchs. The intention being to turn the screw on Vladimir Putin’s war finances.

ut who are these oligarchs, and how does Putin manage them and their wealth? Through the stories of two prominent businessmen, Roman Abramovich and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Josh Toussaint-Strauss examines how Putin’s days in the KGB have informed the way he controls his web of oligarchs and their fortunes

How London Became the Dirty Money Capital of the World | FT Film

Apr 22, 2022 • Russian oligarchs and companies have been investing in London for two decades, encouraged by British politicians of all stripes, but critics say the 'London laundromat' cleans dirty money from Russia and across the globe. The FT examines why it took Russia's invasion of Ukraine to put the issue in the spotlight and whether new sanctions and measures to tackle the problem go far enough

Curious Number of Russian Oligarchs Have Died Since Invasion of Ukraine

Apr 23, 2022 • Ali Velshi reports on four separate instances of Kremlin-connected, extremely wealthy Russians with ties to the oil industry who have died by suicide since Russia's war in Ukraine began.

Tory Donor’s 'Link' to Sanctioned Oligarch’s Secret London Property

Lubov Chernukhin, nee Golubeva | LONDON NEWS PICTURES
BBC: A major Conservative Party donor was listed as a director of a company secretly owned by a Russian oligarch close to President Putin.

The BBC has seen a document dated 2006 and signed "Lubov Golubeva", the maiden name of Lubov Chernukhin, a Tory donor.

Mrs Chernukhin says she "does not recall consenting in writing" to being a director of Suleiman Kerimov's firm.

Mr Kerimov, now sanctioned, previously denied any connection with Mrs Chernukhin.

Papers seen by the BBC appear to show that Mrs Chernukhin, then Lubov Golubeva, was appointed a director of offshore company Radlett Estates Limited, in 2005 - following its acquisition of a substantial property, 1 Radlett Place, in north London.

Another firm - Swiru Holding AG - was the sole shareholder of Radlett Estates. The directors of Radlett Estates were Swiss businessman Alexander Studhalter and Suleiman Kerimov's nephew, Nariman Gadzhiev.

Mr Studhalter was accused in a French court of being a so-called "straw man", or proxy, for Mr Kerimov - involved in hiding the oligarch's wealth. » | James Oliver, Steve Swann and Nassos Stylianou, BBC Panorama and BBC News | Thursday, April 21, 2022

These people have come a very long way in a very short time. It’s surprising how far one can come when a communist country collapses and the assets are stripped by the élite! When the Soviet Union collapsed, the masses were impoverished to enrich the super-priviliged few. – © Mark

No Safe Haven for Russian SuperYachts in Dubai | SY News

Apr 12, 2022 • Shipping agents in Dubai imposing restrictions in Dubai on Russian yachts. Contractors not allowed to work with them and agents can’t do any cash deals or money transactions with them. Not sure if that’s all Russian or just sanctioned elsewhere ones.

Londongrad: How the UK Became a Laundromat for Russian Oligarchs’ Dirty Money

Apr 6, 2022 • For years, the UK has welcomed oligarchs with few questions asked about their fortunes. Billions of dollars poured in. Now, British intelligence is warning that Russian money is propping up Putin’s regime -- and that some of it is helping fund the war in Ukraine.

Analyst Says Putin Has a Dark Reason for Keeping His Daughters a Secret

Apr 7, 2022 • CNN's Brian Todd speaks to Russian analysts after Western countries placed sanctions on Putin's daughters Mariya Putina and Katerina Tikhonova.

W5: The Mind-boggling Wealth and Privilege of Russian Oligarchs

Apr 3, 2022 • W5 takes an in-depth look into who Russia's oligarchs are, and whether sanctioning them would stop President Vladimir Putin's invasion in Ukraine.

From Marylebone to Caribbean: wealth of Abramovich’s business partners revealed: Exclusive: Documents seen by Guardian show empire of Russian steel barons Alexander Abramov and Aleksandr Frolov »

Why Tracking Putin’s Wealth Is So Difficult: Amid speculation that oligarchs are holding cash and luxury assets for the Russian president, many of his extravagances can be traced elsewhere: the Russian state. »

'The Last Straw': Former Oligarch on Renouncing Russian Citizenship

Apr 1, 2022 • CNN's Hadas Gold speaks to Leonid Nevzlin, a former oligarch who moved to Israel nearly 20 years ago, on his decision to publicly renounce his Russian citizenship.

Oligarchs on UK Sanctions List Were Granted ‘Golden Visas’

THE GUARDIAN: Eight unnamed individuals were awarded right to live in Britain under controversial investor visa scheme

Eight Russian oligarchs on the UK sanctions list over their links to Vladimir Putin were granted “golden visas” to live in Britain.

The eight individuals, who Boris Johnson described as having “the blood of the Ukrainian people on their hands”, were granted the right to live in the UK after promising to invest at least £2m under the controversial tier 1 investor visa scheme.

Lady Williams of Trafford, a home office minister, said in an answer to a parliamentary question this week that on 18 March, eight of the oligarchs subjected to sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine “had been identified as holding or having held leave as a tier 1 (investor) migrant or as a tier 1 (investor) migrant dependent”.

The eight people were not named, and the Home Office declined to provide further details. » | Rupert Neate and Aubrey Allegretti | Wednesday, March 30, 2022