Ukrainian money laundering: As America came to the trail of Putin Mahintors
Nicholas Day, they were best prepared for the FBI, British NCA (and, as I think, Mi-6), well, and a festive postcard for Ukrainians was already decorated in the US Ministry of Finance. For the first time since the war (since 2014), British security forces exposed a global network of unofficial funds and a group of people who assisted the Russians with laundering their dirty bloody money. The exposed group consisted of 84, and the operation covered 30 countries. All found funds are frozen.
However (I will pay attention to OP and government), agreements or agreements on the transfer of already identified and frozen unofficial funds of the Russians in Ukraine, although I warned publicly that such operations were possible a year ago, and their effective implementation is only a matter of time. In addition, unofficial funds are unofficial, which with their confiscation there is no problem, as with the reserves of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.
Of course, the freezing of money stolen from the Russian Federation is a powerful step to eliminate the schemes of bypassing the Russians of sanctions, and we, as a country, win from this operation. You can read about a brilliant operation on the site of "Voice of America", there in detail (I would say too much) described who and what I was doing. But there is a spoonful of tar in this beautiful news.
The group that was laundering in the United Kingdom was headed by a citizen of Ukraine George Rossi. In principle, there is already a field for the work of investigative journalists, what is a citizen with such an exotic name for Ukraine? But that's not all. In parallel with this case, the US citizen Andreis Bradens, who was accused of laundering Russian spies and who (well, accidentally) won the tender "Ukrhydroenegro". The article in FT has published this "benefactor". But that's the feature: Mr.
Bradens is the director of TGR Corporate Concierge, and this is George Rossi's case))) Of course, our allies may have logical questions that it is about x…. (In the diplomatic version - what is this)? And this question is already arising, but it is at a very uncomfortable moment of changing rails in diplomatic relations between the US and Ukraine.
I do not think that it plays a significant negative role, because the amounts that appear in the case of Ukrhydroenergo and TGR, for the Russian landscape theme, are just funny. In total, more than $ 1 trillion was taken out of the Russian Federation for 2000-2023. Of the identified and known transactions, the maximum was $ 256 billion.
However, it is worth thinking about the heads of our country, if these cases start stamping dozens and it turns out that 10-20% of them feature Ukrainian bankers and officials? Unfortunately, I have very reasonable suspicions that such officials are in the NBU leadership. And regardless of whether I write about it or not, but a thread from the recipient countries will lead to Ukraine, Moldova and the Baltic countries. For example, in the TGR case, two threads were brought to Ukraine at once.
This is because the FBI has a simple formula: if the crime is committed, then someone needs to be planted. And if there is still a political desire (we call it a political order), then all the processes become faster. Today, our officials who have been involved in landscapes have three options: however, for Ukraine, the further stay of these officials is undesirable and risky.
Everything that is known to financial intelligence, EU and UK, does not immediately become criminal cases, often make organizational conclusions on the basis of this information and then do not add money and consulting assistance, restrict cooperation between intelligence and tax authorities, or even limit the supply of weapons. A clearer and more loyal signal to clear power in Ukraine from Putin's landscapes from the United States and the UK, few could come up with.