Putin - OMG!!!
Happy new year everyone.
This year end I spoilt myself and took some time to read. First on my list was ‘Putin’s People’ by Catherine Belton – it is the most jaw dropping, chilling book I think I have ever read.
It was fascinating enough to find out how Putin appears to have engineered and financed Chechnya terrorist attacks within his own country killing dozens of his countrymen to secure himself the presidency to replace Yeltsin – as the strong guy who can save the people – but what is of greater concern is his laser focus on destabilising the West to secure his place on the world stage.
Chapter 13 focusses on what the Panama Papers revealed about his tactics abroad.
I do not condone leaking private information to journalists. I believe people who have made their fortune through sheer hard work – and are not breaking any rules, deserve the luxury of privacy.
The Panama Papers however, were indiscriminate they exposed the good, the bad and the ugly, but among the bad and the ugly were some interesting details on how Putin’s KGB offshore goes about its mission …
I have not worked for any families from Russia but, from conversations with people who have, there is a tendency for Russians to give wealth to a close third party such as a chauffeur rather than set up a proper succession structure. I have always wondered what would happen if the chauffeur died, his heirs claimed the wealth for themselves, what if he were sued, what if he got divorced – there seemed so many good reasons why it is not a good idea to give wealth to a chauffeur?
But what I had not fully understood, until reading Catherine Belton’s book, is that Russia, operates more like a mafia state, than a country with laws that can be relied on. If the chauffeur does not give the money back when asked, someone will knock on his door and make him give it back!
Wealth is not ‘owned’ in Russia as we in the West understand it, - other than by Putin – it is enjoyed only for so long as it suits Putin - and if anyone steps out of line, they are told what to do or sent to jail.
What the Panama Papers revealed was how the KGB operates abroad. A man called Sergei Roldugin had since 2005 ‘been a shareholder of Bank Rossiya, the St Petersburg bank owned by Putin’s KGB-connected allies which the US Treasury called ‘the personal bank for senior officials of the Russian Federation, including Putin’. Roldugun acquired the shares for $13.5 million which by 2014 was worth $350 million
But Roldugin was not a businessman, he had been school mates with Putin, had introduced Putin to his former wife Lyudmilla and was godfather to their first daughter Maria. He was a cellist by profession and a rector of the St Petersburg Conservatory.
The Panama Papers showed that ‘Roldugin played a central role in a network of companies connected to Bank Rossiya that extended from the British Virgin Islands to Panama. More than $2billion had been funnelled through’ this network ‘between 2009 and 2012’.
The cash generated was then funnelled first into projects for the comfort of Putin such as the development of his favourite ski resort, Igora. It was then used to ‘buy influence abroad’ either directed towards appealing to the greed of the unsuspecting capitalist westerner who are then expected to repay the favours, or in financing terrorist activities
‘In the beginning, it looked to Western eyes like banal cronyism and kleptocracy’, but this is to ignore that Putin learned his tactics working for the KGB in Dresden funnelling money to terrorist organisations or bribes to destabilise the West – and he is now a past master at it.
Of course, Roldugin’s money is just a small piece of the total pie. Thomas Piketty the French economist estimates that $800 billion had been stashed offshore since the collapse of the Soviet Union, ‘more than the wealth held by the entire Russian population in the country itself’.
Money whether sent offshore by the KGB or by Russian businessmen personally can always be ‘directed at the KGB men’s command’ at any time, for any purpose. All this money is available to Putin and he will use it to destabilise the West and give him the respect and honour he wants
According to Catherine Belton Trump was a willing victim of the manoeuvrings of Putin’s plans, first to launder Russian funds but then later as President. Trump never did his due diligence so may not have been aware of what he was assisting
Joe Biden is not however so easily fooled. In 2015 he said, ‘Corruption is the new tool in the hands of foreign policy … the stakes are strategic as well as economic, because Russia and others are using corruption and oligarchs as tools of coercion’
Trump fawned on Putin – Putin likes that – Biden does not – and Putin does not like that and from past actions such as the downfall of the Yeltsin oligarchs or the election in the Ukraine – Putin does not forget what he does not like – and will seek revenge.
On 17th December 2021, the Russian Foreign Ministry published two draft texts – a treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation on Security and Guarantees and an Agreement on Measures to Ensure the Security of the Russian Federation and the Member States of NATO. These are not treaties to be negotiated – Putin expects them to be enacted in full and immediately
Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said ‘The Europeans must also think about whether they want to avoid making their continent the scene of a military confrontation. They have a choice. Either they take seriously what is on the table or they face a military technical alternative.’
Maybe this is Putin’s revenge against Biden – your comments are, as always welcome?
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