In search of Putin's money

In the UK, data on financial assets of the environment of the President of Russia may be published

British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond said that the government may publish information about the secret financial assets of Vladimir Putin’s closest environmental assets in the West. The head of the British Foreign Ministry called this step part of the information war against the Putin regime.

Speaking at the Royal Institute of United Services, Philip Hammond said that he was interested in the idea of publishing a list of assets of Putin’s internal circle in order to publicly bring his environment to clean water. He emphasized that this action can become part of the West response to Russian aggression in Ukraine. The British minister noted that Putin accelerated the Russian army acceleratedly, and warned about the threat from Russia to destabilize the countries of Eastern Europe, which, according to him, is "a serious threat to British national security." Commenting on this statement by Philip Hammond, the Daily Telegraph newspaper writes that "although the wealth of the Putin’s court is opaque, it undoubtedly amounts to tens of billions of dollars in offshore accounts and invested in real estate in London and New York." The newspaper calls the official statement ridiculous that Putin’s state is a salary of 96 thousand pounds a year, an apartment and three cars. “When we are discussing the problem of further pressure on Russia,” said the head of the “office of the office” in his speech, “we are constantly returning to the question of the dissemination of strategic information - to how to inform the Russian people and the peoples on which Russia seeks to influence what is happening in the world.” The truth about the secret foreign assets of the Russian ruling elite, says Philip Hammond, can become an important part of such strategic information. However, is it possible to say that the UK and the West as a whole are now in a state of information war with Russia? The British political analyst Michael Bignon answers this question in an interview with RS.

- Undoubtedly, it is. Russia has completely reorganized its funds and spends a lot of money, especially on the English -speaking RT channel, to convince the West that the Russian point of view has persuasiveness. This is a very sophisticated operation. Many in the West are convinced that all this is pure propaganda, but this is much more inventive propaganda than the clumsy and gross propaganda of Soviet times.

- Is it possible to publish the threat of Philip Hammond in this case to publish a list of assets of Putin’s closest encirclement in the UK as one of the ways to combat Russian propaganda?

I do not think that Putin keeps his condition under his own name. Most likely, it nominally belongs to third parties

- This, of course, would become an instrument of fighting Russian propaganda, since it would cause a serious concern of Putin's closest environment. This action would show that, contrary to their own propaganda, these people transfer huge amounts of money to those countries that themselves officially call enemy. Indeed, from the point of view of Prooputin’s propaganda, the London stock exchange or London real estate - these are not at all the objects where it is permissible to invest in Russian patriots. And if, according to the Russian propaganda attitude, the money should be invested within Russia, then such publicity can cause a serious scandal.

- And what is known about Putin himself? Where can his money be?

- A lot of rumors have been going on about this for a long time. However, no one has reliably named either the magnitude of his condition, or how and where he keeps him. I do not think that Putin keeps his condition under his own name. Most likely, it nominally belongs to third parties. Thus, he can control his condition without issuing his genuine affiliation. That is why it is so difficult to understand how rich the Russian president is. Surely his money formally belongs to some fake structures: offshore companies, closest friends, someone else. Of course, he has access to this money, but this does not affect banking documents.

“ But Putin’s environment can use the same tricks.” And does this turn the threat of the head of the British Foreign Ministry simply into bluff ?

Michael Bignon

“I don't think this is a bluff.” Usually, in the case of bliff, it is impossible to prove the possibility of realizing the threat. But in this case, the British government has reliable information about Russian capital transferred to Britain or other European countries. Until recently, the favorite place of storage of capital for Russian oligarchs or Russian leadership was Switzerland, where bank accounts had strict secrecy. Now this is not. Therefore, the British special services are monitoring the outflow of capital from Russia and other Russian transactions. However, I do not think that Hammond seeks only to cause the concern of Putin's environment. In my opinion, his threat is partially related to the fight against the laundering of foreign dirty money in Britain and with the need to track the entry of capital to the country that are able to destabilize the stock market or cause other harm to the British economy. So the British intelligence agencies with particular thoroughness check the transactions of capital from Russia, where not only Putin’s environment, but also criminal circles strive to transfer their dirty money to the west.

- Do you think that the publication of the British government about the assets of the members of the inner circle of Putin in the West could affect the reputation of the Russian president and his ranking within the country?

- It is possible that this could have influenced, but it is possible that this intention is just a desire to show that Britain has such information. It is possible that this is caused by the need to apply a counterattack on the Russian propaganda during the information war that we talked about, ”said British political analyst Michael Bignon.