Many of them are rich with billions of assets, huge yachts, exotic cars and sometimes shady business stories. The agreement? As long as they remain loyal to Putin, the president leaves them alone. If they clash with Putin, they risk losing everything.
Jodi Vitorri is a former lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force. He worked extensively on an anti-corruption task force with NATO and tells W5 that the oligarchs gained most of their wealth in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union.
There has been massive privatization of many of Russia’s assets in oil, gas, natural resources and agriculture, and many of the richest oligarchs have amassed these companies for “pennies on the dollar.”
Many oligarchs got what they wanted with corrupt and sometimes violent means. This is why oligarchy is often called kleptocracy.
“There were no strong institutions to safeguard the lack of the rule of law, to ensure that there was good legal funding, that organized crime was not involved, that coercion or other violence was not involved,” Vitorri said.
One of the richest modern oligarchs is Roman Abramovich, who has an estimated net worth of $ 7.9 billion at the time of writing, according to Forbes magazine. His fortune includes one of the largest yachts in the world, called The Eclipse.
The 160-meter boat was purchased in 2010 for almost $ 400 million. He is said to own real estate in many different countries around the world. And he owns the $ 3 billion Chelsea FC football team based in Fulham, West London.
Since the invasion of Ukraine, many Western countries, including Canada, have imposed sanctions on some Russian oligarchs.
According to Markus Kolga, a Russian expert on sanctions and sanctions, restrictions on financial transactions, travel and their often-rich lifestyles could lead these oligarchs to pressure Putin to end the war.
“Sanctioning them could have a serious effect, a positive effect, on changing Vladimir Putin’s behavior in the current context of the invasion of Ukraine,” Kolga said.
Increasing financial strangulation of some of Russia’s richest oligarchs and Putin may be one of the keys to ending this war.
“The financial pressure is huge. We are financially starving the guy and he is squeezed right now and we see a change in behavior. “That’s the whole point of sanctions,” Kolga told W5.
As the war continues, the United States, Australia, Canada, the European Commission, Germany, Italy, France, Japan and the United Kingdom have agreed to increase their cooperation to target Russian assets.
The United States recently set up a Multilateral Task Force on Russian Oligarchs to take specific actions that include sanctions, seizure of assets, seizure of political and criminal assets, and criminal prosecution.
Watch “Putin’s Pals” on Saturday at 7 p.m. local time on CTV
