Despite heavy sanctions aimed at isolating Russia over the war in Ukraine, dozens of Russians with ties to President Vladimir Putin or the Russian military are still welcome in European Union countries, prompting criticism from politicians and anti-war activists, reports in The Washington Post reported BTA.
Among those critics are the heads of Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, calling for more action. They draw attention to cases that seem to contradict the purpose of Western sanctions, used for example to deny travel visas, as well as confiscate yachts, real estate and other property, the American newspaper said.
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Elena Isinbayeva, a Russian shepherd jumper and two-time Olympic gold medalist who has close ties to Putin and holds the honorary rank of major in the Russian army, lives quietly in a luxury home for millions in Spain’s Canary Islands.
The daughter and son-in-law of Boris Obnosov, head of the Russian Tactical Missile Corporation, which produces missiles and aerial bombs that have been destroying Ukrainian cities and infrastructure for more than a year, continue to live in Prague, where their family owns numerous properties and luxury cars .
And Maria Kitaeva, a former adviser to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and an honorary major general who is now said to be in a relationship with Russian Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, has made multiple trips to Hungary and Italy over the past year. to go shopping. Last month, MEPs from 15 countries called on the European Commission to impose sanctions on Obnosov’s close family members. His daughter Olga and son-in-law Rostislav Zorikov live as of 2020 in the Czech capital, where they and other family members reportedly own real estate worth more than $8 million.
Last month, Spanish media outlet El Digital Sur reported that Isinbayeva, a well-known Putin supporter, had moved with her family to the island of Tenerife, where she now spends her time in several luxury villas. According to a new investigation by the Anti-Corruption Foundation, Isinbayeva bought two villas and a penthouse there worth about $3.2 million, allowing her to obtain a residence permit from Spanish authorities just two weeks after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
As Putin has stepped up his anti-Western rhetoric, portraying the invasion as an existential battle with the West that must ensure Russia’s future survival, Isinbayeva and other supporters of the Russian president and his war in Ukraine appear to ignore that message, continuing to make frequent visits to their homes in Europe or make shopping trips to European cities.
In response to the outcry over her move to Europe, Isinbayeva cited her career and achievements as an athlete rather than her ties to the Russian government, calling the coverage of the scandal “false”.
In a post on her page on the Russian social network VKontakte in July, Isinbayeva wrote: “I live where I work, eat what I love, communicate with those I value and respect. … Remember: Envy is a destructive feeling. … I am a man of the world, I always have been and I will remain so!”
Western countries, led by the US and the EU, have imposed a series of sweeping sanctions against senior Russian politicians, the military and wealthy businessmen linked to Putin. In some cases, their relatives also fell under the sanctions.
Some Russians argue that individual citizens, even the wealthiest, should not be punished for Putin’s decision to go to war. Others insist that anyone whose wealth and success can be traced to the Kremlin should be held accountable, the Washington Post notes.
In 2020, Isinbayeva participated in a task force on changes to the Russian constitution that would allow Putin to possibly stay in power until 2036. She was not subject to any sanctions.
Canada and Ukraine imposed sanctions on Maria Kitaeva for her support for the war and her journalistic career as a Russian propagandist, but not the European Union.
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, subject to EU and US sanctions, is the most senior Russian official in charge of construction in Russia’s military and is overseeing the reconstruction of the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
The Anti-Corruption Foundation also found that Ivanov’s ex-wife, Svetlana Maniovic, continued to travel around Europe last year, including to Paris for luxury purchases and lavish spending. Similarly, no sanctions have been imposed on the brother, daughter and other relatives of Magardich Okroyan, chief designer of Russia’s Soyuz company, which makes engines for many of the missiles fired at Ukraine, including the one that hit a shopping mall in the Ukrainian city last year Kremenchuk, killing at least 20 people.
Okroyan’s relatives own huge luxury properties in Great Britain. The Anti-Corruption Foundation called for Okroyan and his relatives to be included in the sanctions lists of the EU and the US. Representatives for Okroyan, Kitaeva and the Russian Defense Ministry have not yet responded to The Washington Post’s requests for comment.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an exiled Russian businessman and critic of Putin who lives in London, said that a year and a half after the invasion began, an “unsystematic” and “nonstandard” sanctions policy was still being applied.
“Representatives of the anti-war opposition who are persecuted in Russia hardly get the opportunity to move to the West,” he said. “While representatives of Putin’s elite, even relatives of war criminals who previously obtained European residence permits, live well in the West and spend the money stolen in Russia there,” Khodorkovsky added.
“Enough time has passed to develop a policy that would exclude these risks without discriminating against all citizens of Russia,” he said. Georgy Alburov, an investigator with the Anti-Corruption Foundation, said that after the invasion, many members of the Russian elite were forced to admit that they had built their entire lives in the West and the sanctions would tear them from their alternative existence “far from life under Vladimir Putin”.
Many of these members of the Russian elite, including some official officials, have sent their children to live abroad, maintaining offshore bank accounts and vacation homes. All of them are in countries that Putin now considers hostile, writes the Washington Post. According to Alburov, Western sanctions should be revised to “take into account the realities in Russia”.
Russian officials rarely register properties in their own names, instead using the names of their lawyers or relatives. Usually, their sons and daughters continue to live in the West, where they still use their properties and spend and invest their assets, the American newspaper noted. “Sanctions should be extended automatically and imposed on the closest family members – spouses, children, lawyers, in whose names all the property is registered,” said Alburov.
Like Khodorkovsky, Alburov made a clear distinction between Russia’s wealthy elite and ordinary Russians, some of whom had previously protested the government or the war and now struggle to get visas and jobs, access to financial services or software needed for their businesses.
“The problem is that it only applies to people who don’t have money,” he pointed out. “If you’re a rich official or some crook or thief, it’s very easy. You can just get on a private plane and fly away. You can buy citizenship, buy a residence permit or property abroad, which will get you a visa Alburov said. “This is a big disappointment for everyone who fights against corruption in Russia,” he added, quoted by the Washington Post.
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2023-08-10 12:39:00
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