Thread by @corporateeurope

Most lobby firms won't touch the #Kremlin w/ a bargepole NOW, but for decades the EU's weak rules have allowed #Putin 's hired 🔫s to #lobby in Brussels with 0 ethical concerns and near-0 reporting requirements. Here's a 🧵👇

Follow us on instagram for+: instagram.com/corporateeurop…

2/14
In 2006 sister @Omnicom PR firms GPlus (🇪🇺) & @KetchumPR (🇺🇸) won a multimillion 💰💰 contract to rep for the #Kremlin (& @GazpromEN in 2007)

Ketchum helped #Putin get named Time's Person of the Year & placed an eyebrow raising op-ed by him on Syria in the @nytimes .

3/14
GPlus worked to connect Russia and Gazprom to top EU officials and media;with subcontracts for PR firms Dimap (Berlin), Reti (Rome), & Portland (London)

(NB in 2020 GPlus merged with Portland Communications)

👉corporateeurope.org/en/pressreleas…
#undertheinfluence
#lobbytransparency

4/14
When Russia invaded Crimea in 2014,GPlus circulated Putin's letter to EU media & govts threatening to cut off 🇷🇺 gas supplies

Despite ensuing EU sanctions GPlus continued to represent both Russia and Gazprom, who were among their biggest clients

👉corporateeurope.org/sites/default/…

5/14
🤔GPlus Brussels' role included press briefings, drafting policy documents; and according to a long-deleted Russian interview “Providing objective information to European Commission officials" and giving the Kremlin "an opportunity to tell its story" in the West
📰 in 🇷🇺👉🇬🇧

6/14
In 2020 GPlus merged with Portland Communication which no longer indicates Kremlin or Gazprom are clients. There are plenty of other firms that took Russian money but this isn't really about any one case...(continues)

7/14
(cont)... it's about why repressive regimes & autocratic govts can pay European lobby consultancies and lawyers to whitewash their images, fight sanctions, smear opponents, hide abuses & lobby for investment, trade & political support with the EU institutions with impunity.

8/14
👉It is imperative that in the rush to move away from Russian fossil fuels and other corporate interests, we do not simply replace them with dirty energy and lobbying from other repressive regimes such as Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan.

9/14
Lobby consultancies repping govts now have to declare these clients. But there's v little detail required, almost no enforcement, & govt clients don’t need to register themselves.

❓So is the near zero declaration of repressive regime clients a true picture or obfuscation?

10/14
And what about lawyers advocating for sanctioned clients? Historically law firms have been very slow in joining the register and declaring their lobby clients on legal confidentiality grounds.

11/14
The godfather of PR, Ivy Lee, worked to rep for Nazi Germany in DC in the 1930s, leading to an outcry & mandatory US register for lobbyists representing foreign govts.

👉That's why Paul Manafort was JAILED for not reporting his lobbying for Putin-ally Yanukovych.

12/14
In contrast, though Manafort had used the Brussels-based European Centre for a Modern Ukraine as his multimillion $ lobbying outfit for the Kremlin's Ukrainian allies (as CEO reported in 2015), he faced 0 consequences in the EU due to a flawed voluntary register.

13/14
👉If autocratic govts need diplomacy, they have… diplomats for that.
❌They have no 'right' to PR or EU lobby representation.
It shouldn't take horror in the news to make that obvious.
✊We need better lobby rules across the board.

👉Conclusion: the EU now needs to ban lobby access to its politicians and officials for:
❌ Reps for repressive governments (excluding diplomatic contacts)
❌Companies, subsidiaries, & other organisations closely associated with repressive governments.