But thanks to a tangle of factors—perpetual secrecy in trusts and shell companies, anti-money laundering loopholes for real estate and private equity, perpetually under-resourced law enforcement—we have no idea where they are.
Scenes from the pro-Ukrainian protest in London right now, outside Whitehall—many of the signs highlighting the UK’s role in protecting dirty Russian money:
One sign listing all of the key Russian oligarchs the UK is yet to sanction: Deripaska, Usmanov, Abramovich, and more.
“Support Ukraine: target Russia’s oligarchs. Seize their UK-based assets today!”
Putin's invasion is such a glaringly obvious strategic blunder, built on top of an entire range of delusions about Ukraine, about the realities of regime change, about what this will mean for Russia following initial invasion.
Putin was obviously a nationalistic conspiracy theorist before the last few months. (Remember when he spouted that the US wanted to steal Siberia? Or that the Panama Papers were actually an attempt to destabilize Russia?)
But this is all qualitatively different. This is insane.
This honestly seems like the best explanation at the moment for Putin’s historic blunder—and one that jibes with his collapse into madman territory.
It’s the march of a personalist dictator, couple with Covid isolation spinning him into unreality.
In addition to unleashing the full barrage of sanctions and seizing oligarchic assets, now begin:
—Fast-tracking organization (and potential membership) between NATO and Sweden/Finland
—Fast-track pro-transparency regulations in real estate, private investments, and art market
—Fast-tracking new anti-money laundering regulations on lawyers and law firms
—Fast-tracking legislation barring former officials from working for autocracies
—Significant increase in law enforcement asset tracing and seizure programs
This chart is from my book, illustrating how Russian (and other) oligarchs launder their wealth in the West.
Clamp down on every one of these industries, across the board. Force transparency. End anonymity. And consider sanctioning those Westerners who refuse to comply.
It’s time to see Putin’s Russia for what it’s long been: a European empire that never fully decolonized—and dedicated to revanchism, no matter the cost.
Putin’s monomania about controlling Ukraine stems mainly from pure, unadulterated neo-imperialism—and a desire to reclaim territories the dictator believes belong to Moscow.
Watching this return to outright empire is jarring. (European imperial colonization was supposed to be behind us!)
But there was always one European empire that never fully decolonized—never even came close to it: Russia.
Finally reading through Hirsch’s “Empire of Nations,” on the creation of Soviet republics, and one thing is clear: the Bolsheviks had absolutely no idea what they were doing, and looked for any excuse to simply continue as much of tsarist-era colonization as possible.
Pre-1917, the Bolsheviks were talking all about the exploitative nature of colonization.
And then they came to power—and realized how maintaining Moscow’s setter-colonial empire would be to their benefit.
“Between 1919 and 1921, the Bolsheviks used military force, intrigue, and diplomatic measures to… exert control over the newly independent states of the former Russian empire…. In many regions, though, the Bolsheviks had no indigenous support whatsoever.”