Foreign Assets of Alleged Russian Oligarchs Under Scrutiny

MAR 16 2022·Updated MAR 19 2022

Story

Image credit: Getty Images/The Boston Globe [via Buzzfeed News]

The Facts

Revelations are continuing to emerge about the foreign assets of alleged Kremlin-aligned Russian oligarchs who've been targeted by sanctions since the invasion of Ukraine.
guardian
Billionaire Alexei Mordashov sold his controlling stake in Tui, the world's biggest tourism company, a move that may help him avoid the seizure of shares worth over $1B.
guardian
Roman Abramovich, the owner of Premier League club Chealsea FC, was reported to have invested $1.3B in the US over a span of 15 yrs using a secretive network of offshore companies.
Buzzfeed
Abramovich, whose wealth is estimated to be over $12B, also transferred control of a private investment firm to his associate David Davidovich, who isn't subject to sanctions, on the same day that Russian forces invaded Ukraine.
Business Insider
An investigation by the BBC's Panorama team further reports that Abramovich swindled the Russian government out of $2.6B and was the subject of a fraud inquiry by his country's Dept. of Economic Crimes.
Daily Mail

Sources Split

LEFT

CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

CENTER

PRO
ESTAB

The Spin

Narrative A

Prosecutors, including the US' new KleptoCapture task force, are closing the net on the oligarchs who have aided Putin's war crimes, and they will have no place left to hide their ill-gotten wealth.

NBC

Narrative B

Sanctions are only a first step in the battle against authoritarian global corruption. If the West doesn't reform its own policies on financial anonymity, the sanctions will never have the intended impact. The West is awash in ill-gotten wealth, and those who benefit from it are reluctant to stop the spigot.

Atlantic

Establishment-critical narrative

It's hypocritical to impose sanctions on Russia for invading Ukraine, but not on the US for invading Iraq for equally unjustified reasons, or on Israel for invading and annexing Arab lands.

Al Jazeera