Tag: Russia

According to Andrew Adams, the group has focused on identifying those who are helping Russians to avoid sanctions and export controls. “I think it can be quite effective to be sanctioning facilitators,” Adams said, calling them “professional sanctions evasion brokers.” A recent report from the Treasury Department showed that more than $58 billion worth of sanctioned Russian assets have been blocked or frozen worldwide so far. Adams pointed out that KleptoCapture aims to sell the frozen yachts and other property of sanctioned Russians, despite the legal difficulties, and use the proceeds for the benefit of Ukraine. He noted, however, that this would be done in accordance with the law.

Russia on Monday began the closed-door trial of jailed opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who faces up to two decades in prison on treason charges for comments critical of the Kremlin. His trial is the latest in a string of cases against opposition voices in Russia in a crackdown that has intensified since President Vladimir Putin deployed troops in Ukraine last…

According to the report, Fridman and Aven currently own 45% of the bank via a Luxembourg-based holding company that controls the lender’s Cyprus-based parent company ABH Financial Limited. Their shares will reportedly be sold to Alfa-Bank’s third co-owner, Andrei Kosogov, for 178 billion rubles ($2.3 billion). Kosogov, who already owns a 41% stake in the bank, confirmed to FT that the deal has been agreed, but made no further comments as to the details. Alfa-Bank’s press service also confirmed on Friday that such a deal is being prepared but noted that it is too early to speak about the particulars. The sale is expected to be finalized later this spring, once it is approved by the Russian central bank and tax authorities. Unlike Kosogov, who is not subject to the Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia, both Fridman and Aven have been targeted by Western authorities for their alleged ties to the Russian government. Both billionaires have challenged the EU sanctions against them in court, and now “want to do everything they can to get out of their Russian assets so that sanctions will be removed,” one of the sources told the news outlet.

The US Justice Department announced on Wednesday having obtained a warrant to seize a Boeing 737-7JU aircraft owned by Russian oil company Rosneft and worth approximately $25 million.  The court documents cited in the press release states the probable cause for the intended seizure as violations of the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA) and of the recent sanctions issued against Russia.  Those sanctions bar a plane that was built or manufactured in the US from entering Russia without a valid license, the report stated. Airplanes and aircraft parts are subject to export rules because of their potential military use and national security implications.  “Specifically, since February 2022, when the export controls that bar the United States-built plane’s re-entry to Russia went into effect, the plane has left and reentered Russia at least seven times, in violation of federal law,” the press release said. “The Boeing jet, which was manufactured in the United States, was last in the United States in March 2014, and is currently believed to be in, or traveling to or from, Russia,” it continued.  In August, the Justice Department was approved by a US court to seize a plane belonging to another Russian energy company, a $45-million jet reportedly owned by oil major Lukoil.

The Russian army launched 81 missiles in twenty-four hours, including six Kinjal, which Kiev claims cannot intercept.

Russia has intensified its strikes on Ukraine by imposing, on Thursday, March 9, a missile and drone dam on several areas of the country, including in the west, yet far from the front lines. The strikes, which have been the most significant in weeks, have left at least six people dead and deprived of power, as well as temporarily, the Zaporijia nuclear power plant.

Moscow has described these attacks, which it carried out in particular with the help of new Kinjal hypersonic missiles, as « reprisals » to an incursion into its territory on March 2 from « saboteurs » Ukrainian. Kiev denied the charges, and warned that Moscow could use these allegations to justify further assaults.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced this daily message on the Internet in his daily message on the Internet « new attempt by the terrorist state to wage war on civilization, which temporarily cut the power, heating and water in some of our regions and cities ».

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is spearheading a new drive this week to see Finland and Sweden become members of the world’s biggest military organization by the time U.S. President Joe Biden and his counterparts meet for their next summit in July.

Fearing that they might be targeted next after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, the Nordic neighbors abandoned their traditional positions of military nonalignment to seek protection under NATO’s security umbrella.

All 30 allies signed Finland’s and Sweden’s accession protocols. Almost all have since ratified those texts, but Turkey and, more recently, Hungary have sought guarantees and assurances from the two. NATO must agree unanimously for them to join.

Matt Taibbi presented the US Congress with evidence of corporate, NGO and government collusion: Social media platforms colluded with non-governmental organizations and the US government to suppress information they did not like. During the hearing, multiple Democrats tried to pressure Taibbi into revealing his sources, insinuating Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, was behind the disclosures.

(Bloomberg) — US President Joe Biden dropped into a meeting at the last minute in the White House to see a man all of Washington wants an audience with: Sauli Niinisto, once upon a time known as the “Putin whisperer.” The impromptu get-together was thrown together as Biden joined Niinisto and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. The pair of presidents have now met three times and spoken four since late 2021 — giving the Finnish head of state unprecedented access to the world’s most powerful leader.

At stake is the stalled expansion of NATO, with Turkey and Hungary holding up the biggest shift in the security landscape of western Europe in several decades.

BERLIN (AP) — European countries said Thursday that they have decided to dissolve a system conceived in 2019 to enable trade with Iran and protect companies doing business with it from U.S. sanctions, but only ever processed one transaction.

The German and French foreign ministries said the 10 shareholders of INSTEX — Belgium, Germany, Finland, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the U.K. — concluded that there was no basis to keep it going after Iran persistently refused to work with the institution.

The decision comes at a time when tensions between the West and Iran have increased following Tehran’s crackdown on internal dissent, its supply of armed drones to Russia that have been used in the war in Ukraine, and the de facto breakdown of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers including Germany, France and the U.K.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States on Thursday announced more sanctions against people and firms associated with Iran and with what it said was an illicit banking network used to conceal transactions.

The U.S. said it placed the penalties on 39 firms linked to a shadow banking system that helped to obfuscate financial activity between sanctioned Iranian firms and their foreign buyers, namely for petrochemicals produced in Iran.

The Treasury Department said the companies — from Hong Kong to the United Arab Emirates — made up a “significant ‘shadow banking’ network” that gave cover to sanctioned Iranian entities to disguise petrochemical sales with foreign customers.

The company attributed the decision to the latest round of Western sanctions against Russia, saying that transactions in dollars and euros will be unavailable to any individuals residing in Russia regardless of nationality.  

The exchange also banned users based in the EU from making transfers in Russian rubles via the platform, according to media reports. When trying to make a transaction in rubles, the platform prompts users to select a ‘local currency’ for P2P.

“In order to continue using Binance P2P, users can choose other available fiat currencies,” a representative of the exchange told Forbes Russia. 

Ukrainian troops eased out of their most precarious defences in Bakhmut. Russian President Vladimir Putin has set the conquest of the eastern provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk, known collectively as the Donbas region, as one of his goals – and Bakhmut in Donetsk is key to that. “We understand that after Bakhmut, they could go farther,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told CNN. “They could go to Kramatorsk. They could go to Sloviansk. It would be open road for the Russians after Bakhmut to other towns in Ukraine in the Donetsk direction.”

A cellist is accused of helping Vladimir Putin channel $50 million into Swiss accounts. 4 bankers are also accused of not having checked the real source of the money. Putin is believed by some to have accrued vast wealth during his time as Russian leader. Four bankers have been accused of helping Vladimir Putin’s cellist best friend channel millions of…

Pentagon chiefs reportedly blocking Washington from sharing evidence of alleged war crimes in Ukraine with the International Criminal Court. The US Department of Defense is reportedly at odds with the administration of President Joe Biden over helping the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) investigate alleged war crimes committed in Ukraine.

Submarines are part of the AUKUS pact with the UK, which may also jointly develop a vessel with Australia.

The United States government has requested and obtained a warrant to seize a Russian aircraft valued at $25m, according to a statement released on Wednesday.

The US-made plane, a Boeing 737-7JU, is accused of travelling from a foreign country to Russia, in violation of US law and sanctions implemented after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The plane was last in the US in 2014, according to the statement from the US Attorney’s Office for New York’s Eastern District. But the US alleges the plane has flown in and out of Russia “at least seven times, in violation of federal law”.