De sancties tegen de kring mensen rond Poetin is in Europa nog niet zo waterdicht als dat ze zou moeten zijn. Dit schrijft The Washington Post in een artikel gisteren met de wat bondige titel:
Russians tied to Putin or military sidestep sanctions and draw protest
Deelartikel:
https://wapo.st/45lomJKDespite heavy sanctions intended to isolate Russia over the war in Ukraine, dozens of Russians connected to President Vladimir Putin or the Russian military are still welcome in European Union countries, drawing criticism from politicians and antiwar activists.
De vraag die ik hierbij heb, zijn die sancties niet eenduidig uitlegbaar, waardoor er ruimte voor interpretatie ontstaat?
Wie zwengelt de kritiek aan?
The critics include leaders of opposition figure Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation who are pressing for more action by drawing attention to cases that seem to defy the goal of Western sanctions, which have been used to deny travel visas and to seize yachts, real estate and other property.
Enkele voorbeelden
Enkele voorbeelden van bekende Russen met een directe relatie tot Poetin die nog gewoon in de EU kunnen bewegen:
- Yelena Isinbayeva, an Olympic gold medal-winning Russian pole vaulter with close ties to Putin, and who also holds the honorary rank of major in the Russian army, is living quietly in a luxurious residence worth millions in Spain’s Canary Islands.
- A daughter and son-in-law of Boris Obnosov, head of the Russian-owned Tactical Missiles 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 the family owns numerous properties and luxury vehicles. [...]They have lived since 2020 in the Czech capital, where they and other family members reportedly own real estate worth more than $8 million.[...]Ivanov’s ex-wife, Svetlana Maniovich, continued to travel to Europe last year, including to Paris for luxury spending sprees.
- And Maria Kitayeva, a former adviser to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and an honorary major general, who is now reportedly in a relationship with Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, has made repeated trips to Hungary and Italy for shopping sprees over the past year.
- Isinbayeva — a well-known supporter of Putin — had moved with her family to Tenerife, where they now spend time between luxury villas.
Gelukkig zijn er altijd mensen te vinden die zich hierover bekommeren. Zo komen tegen de Obnosov familie 15 Europarlementariers in het geweer en de Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation doet onderzoek naar Isinbayeva:
Isinbayeva bought two villas and a penthouse there worth roughly $3.2 million, which allowed her to receive a Spanish residency permit, just two weeks after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Wat vinden die Russen?
Haar reaktie op haar VKontakte pagina:
“I live where I work, eat what I love, communicate with those whom I value and respect. … Remember: Envy is a destructive feeling. … I am a person of the world; I have always been and will remain so!”
Anderen:
Some Russians have argued that individual citizens, even the wealthiest, should not be punished for Putin’s decision to go to war. Others insist that all of those whose wealth and success can be traced back to the Kremlin should be held responsible.
Nu mogen we allemaal iets vinden, maar we moeten niet vergeten dat deze personen niet voor niets gelieerd zijn geraakt aan Poetin. Over Isinbayeva is het volgende te melden:
In 2020, Isinbayeva participated in a working group on constitutional amendments that enabled Putin to potentially remain in power until 2036. She has not been targeted by any sanctions.
Kitayeva komt zo aan haar sancties, maar merk op dat EU haar nog niet sanctioneert:
Kitayeva has been placed under sanctions by Canada and Ukraine over her support for the war and her career as a Russian propagandist — but not by the E.U.
En tenslotte Ivanov:
Ivanov, who is under E.U. and U.S. sanctions, is the top official in charge of construction for the Russian military and is overseeing the reconstruction of the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
Soms zijn sancties nog helemaal achterwege gebleven, Een voorbeeld hiervan is de familie van Mkrtich Okroyan, hoofontwerpen van Soyuz. Dat bedrijf maakt raketmotoren voor de raketten die op Oekraïne worden afgeschoten. In dit licht zouden sancties geen discussie moeten zijn. Maar nee:
Okroyan’s relatives own huge luxury properties in Britain. The Anti-Corruption Foundation has called for Okroyan and his relatives to be included on E.U. and U.S. sanctions lists.
Dit geeft wat een indruk van geïmproviseerde willekeur, zoals ook een verbannen Rus het verwoordt:
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an exiled Russian businessman and Putin critic based in London, said that a year and a half after the start of the invasion, an “unsystematic” and “substandard” sanctions policy remains in place.
Hij is kritisch op het westen, door de inmiddels verstreken tijd is er geen excuus meer:
“Enough time has passed to develop a policy that would exclude these risks but would not discriminate against all citizens of Russia,” Khodorkovsky added.
Er is nog een andere keerzijde aan het willekeurige beleid, het haalt Russen de wind uit de zeilen die actief zijn in het verzet tegen het huidige bewind. Georgy Alburov, een onderzoeker bij de Anti-Corruption Foundation hierover:
“The problem is that this only concerns people who don’t have money,” he said. “If you are a rich official or some kind of crook or thief, it is very easy. You can just get on a private plane and fly away. You can buy citizenship, you can buy a residence permit, or foreign property, which will give you a visa.”
He added: “This is a big disappointment for all people who fight corruption in Russia.”