Recently, Russia and Indonesia agreed to an extradition pact between the two countries. In a report by ABC News, this agreement is presented as a way to stop transnational criminals from operating between the two countries. The Russian minister of justice said, “ With this treaty signed, we now have a legal basis for our cooperation in the sphere of combating crimes, and this is going to be systematical and productive in the future.” The Russian Government will invest in the Indonesian railway network as part of this agreement. While this agreement may seem relatively innocent on the surface, there is every chance that Russia could use it to forcibly bring back those it sees as dissidents, which would align with Moscow’s view on human rights.
Tag: Russia
The Wrongful Imprisonment of Vladimir Kara-Murza.
Recently the Russian democracy activist Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in prison for what many in the West believe are politically motivated charges. According to a report by the BBC, Kara-Murza was found guilty of “treason” by a Russian court because he spoke to politicians in the United States about Russia committing war crimes in Ukraine. Kara-Murza is a well-known figure in pro-democracy circles in Russia and was close with Boris Nemtsov, another pro-democracy activist who was shot in 2015. Kara-Murza also supported the Global Magnitsky Act, which aims to sanction Russian oligarchs who support President Putin. All of this paints an even grimmer picture of the level of repression in Putin’s Russia.
Truth Social: Where Did the Money Come From?
Last week reports surfaced that federal prosecutors were looking into the finances of Truth Social, the former president Donald Trump’s social media website set up after he was banned from Twitter and Facebook. According to an article by The Guardian, questions are being raised about the source of an $8 million loan made to Trump media by Paxum bank and ES Family Trust. Paxum is owned by Anton Postolnikov, a close relation to Aleksandr Smirnov, a long-time ally of Putin, and has a reputation for providing funding to the pornography industry. This bank appears to do business with some dodgy characters. It also seems that other members of trump world, such as the president’s son Donald Trump Jr and long-time trump allies Kash Patel and Devin Nunes, may know where the money from the loan came from.
A follow-up article in The Guardian states that high-ranking executives within Trump Media are increasingly worried that they could face legal action if loans contained dirty money. One executive even suggested returning the money to avoid any potential legal proceedings. However, this was not done as the money was desperately needed to keep the company solvent. Also, according to a report from Business Insider, Truth Social is laying off employees, most likely due to cash flow issues. It is still unclear if Trump Media has committed any crimes, but the saying “Where there is smoke, there is fire” comes to mind.
The Wagner Group Sanctioned: Putin’s Corrupt Paramilitary
Recently, a mysterious paramilitary group called the Wagner Group, run by a crony of President Putin, has been in the news. Wagner is run by a man named Yevgeny Prigozhin, who, earlier in his life, was in prison after committing a series of robberies in the early 80s. According to an article in The Guardian, Prigozhin excelled in the free-wheeling culture in St Petersburg in the early 1990s. He quickly moved from selling hot dogs to buying up stakes in supermarkets and a liquor store. Eventually, he started managing a restaurant called the Old Customs House, where he made meaningful political connections.
Not long after, Prigozhin started to get involved in military-related issues due to being awarded catering contracts for the army. Shortly afterwards, according to the article in The Guardian, he asked the Russian Ministry of Defense for a parcel of land to train “volunteers” that would have no links to the regular Russian army. The organization quickly became Putin’s go-to option for any off-the-books military operations and gained a bloody reputation in Syria. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Wagner has taken a more prominent role within the Russian military. On January 20th, Wagner was sanctioned by the U.S. government as a transnational criminal organization. According to an article in the AP, Wagner allegedly spends over $100 million monthly on the war in Ukraine. It is not clear from the article where precisely this money comes from, but it is a safe assumption that it comes from the Russian state. If the West is to aid Ukraine, limiting the ability of people or entities wishing to provide material support to the Wagner group will be essential.
Zelenskyy’s House Cleaning.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has recently fired several high-ranking officials in what is becoming an ever-widening corruption scandal. Reports emerged on Monday, the 23rd of January, that Zelenskyy had fired his deputy infrastructure minister Vasyl Lozinskyi for allegedly stealing $400,000 intended to support the war effort. According to an article in The Guardian, Lozinskyi colluded with contractors to inflate the price of items such as generators, and he would pocket the difference. And according to a Reuters article from the 22nd of January, defense minister Oleksiy Reznikov had secured food on contracts at highly inflated prices. Zelenskyy’s deputy cabinet minister was also fired after allegations emerged that he drove luxury cars around Kyiv shortly after Russia invaded.
A recent Washington Post article highlights the role journalists and NGOs in Ukraine have played in exposing corrupt schemes. Also, according to a recent report by The Guardian, Oleksandr Novikov, the country’s lead anti-corruption tsar, has vowed not to let up on pursuing corrupt individuals despite being in a war. According to polling done in Ukraine before the war, only 40 percent of the Ukrainian population was willing to report corruption. However, 84 percent of the population is now ready to report wrongdoing. Surely if Countries such as the US and the UK are going to continue giving military aid to Ukraine, they will want to see some progress on the anti-corruption front.
Russia Leaves European Anti-Corruption Convention.
Recently, the Russian government opted to leave a European Anti-Corruption Convention. This group is run by the Council of Europe, a human rights organization. President Putin asked the Duma, Russia’s Parliament, to end participation in the pact. According to an article written by the Associated Press, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that withdrawal from the convention would not affect official government efforts to fight corruption. This follows a trend of International organizations such as the European Council on Human Rights and the United Nations Humans Rights Council revoking Russia’s membership. I suspect there will be no change in Russia’s already weak efforts to stop corruption within the country.
The Diack Doping Case.
Recently an appeal trial has started in Paris involving the son of the former head of World athletics, Papa Massata Diack. According to Reuters, Diack was convicted on charges relating to kickbacks from Russian athletes in return for hiding their positive drug tests. He was sentenced to five years in prison and was fined €1 million. He is also facing similar legal issues in his native Senegal. This trial is ongoing, and I will update as more information becomes available.
The Potential Ramifications of FATF Sidelining Russia.
In recent weeks there have been reports that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is discussing the possibility of excluding Russia from the anti-money laundering group due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. According to the International Working Group on Russian sanctions (a collection of independent experts in international relations based at Stanford University), the ramifications of FATF blocking Russia would be considerable. Firstly, it wouldn’t allow Russia to influence the creation of new International anti-money laundering laws, which Russia may try and water down with its influence. Secondly, it would force western banks to institute further checks on any capital flows in or out of Russia. Finally, complete sanctions would most likely stop the current practice of Russian companies being able to conduct financial dealings through one of the few banks in Russia that have not yet been banned.
Given the current circumstances, Ukrainian financial institutions are leading the drive to get Russia sanctioned by FATF. On October 14th, the National Bank of Ukraine released a statement pushing FATF to exclude Russia from future FATF conferences and legislation. The Ukrainian World Congress, a non-profit organization advocating for the rights of Ukrainians worldwide, has added its voice to calls for Russia to be sidelined. While the West should welcome such a move, it is now unclear if and when it will happen.
Sergei Surovikin: Is he Corrupt or Not?
Recently, President Vladimir Putin named Sergei Surovikin as the commander of Russian forces in Ukraine. In many articles announcing his appointment, military sources (mainly the Ministry of Defense (MOD) in the United Kingdom) state that he is corrupt, brutal, and ruthless on the battlefield. According to the New York Times, he served in Chechnya in the early 2000s and commanded Russian forces in Syria, where numerous human rights violations occurred. Also, according to a report in The Guardian, Surovikin led a rifle division that broke barriers set up by pro-democracy protesters during the 1991 attempted coup by Soviet hardliners and killed three people.
It is much harder to pin him down on any concrete allegations of corruption other than the possibility of weapons dealing. Brokering arms is undoubtedly an unsavory business, but without in-depth evidence, it seems a stretch to label Surovikin as corrupt. This raises the issue of media outlets and other organizations stating that a person may be involved in corruption, but fail to back up such allegations with credible evidence. It seems clear that Surovikin is likely a war criminal, but is he corrupt? It is much more difficult to tell without hard facts.
Crispin Corruption Report 