Thread by @navalny

1/28 Putin's war with Ukraine has been going on for 6 months now. From Day 1, Western leaders firmly stated  that Putin's oligarchs and bribe-takers would face imminent sanctions and wouldn’t get away this time. But they did. This is a rage thread about almost nothing being done.

2/28 There's a character in The Simpsons, the corrupt Mayor Quimby. His catchphrase is:"Did I hear a briefcase opening?" I remember him every time I think of how Putin's oligarchs and their enablers (lobbyists,lawyers and bankers) successfully block sanctions even in times of war

3/28 Here's the situation. On the one hand, at the level of the European Parliament, the U.S. Congress and Senate, and national parliaments, there is full support for massive sanctions against bribe-takers and warmongers.

4/28 On the other hand, as soon as it comes to concrete work, everything crumbles to dust in the depths of the executive branch. Nothing happens. The leaders make big speeches, but the decisions get stuck somewhere. Let me give you a few examples.

5/28 How on earth is Alexei Miller, the head of Gazprom, Putin's main trusted thief since the 90s, the man who literally stole Gazprom and now sponsors Putin's family and mistresses, still not on the European sanctions list?

6/28 Explain to me why head of Rosneft Sechin is under EU sanctions and Miller is not? Putin, Sechin and Miller sat in the same office in St. Petersburg's city hall, they’re close friends, both own a state-owned company, both are thieves. Why is Miller able to travel to Europe?

7/28 The EU promptly imposed sanctions against the fictional “ataman” of the All-Powerful Army of the Don and this gentleman with a gun. That's it, we won't see them at the billionaires club in Porto Cervo or their private jets in Milan anymore. But Miller still can do all this.

8/28 Moving on. The US sanctions do not include Abramovich, Putin's trusted wallet #2, who paid for the construction of the palace in Gelendzhik.

9/28 Abramovich's companies are still supplying metal to the Russian Defense Ministry, how are they still not under sanctions?!
occrp.org/en/37-ccblog/c…

10/28 Let us not forget: sanctions are needed to force the aggressor to stop the war. To put pressure on him. And there are complex solutions here like the oil and gas embargo. But then there are really simple ones:personal sanctions.They don’t require anything but political will

11/28 Well, and refusal to listen to hired lawyers and lobbyists who walk through offices and threaten lawsuits. Or worse, offer officials a future partnership in their law firms in exchange for special treatment of their client.

12/28 I do not want to throw around baseless accusations. But how else can I explain that so far only a tiny number of oligarchs and bribe-takers have been sanctioned, but talks have already begun on the need to remove them from the lists?
wsj.com/articles/roman…

13/28 Here is the Forbes list of 200 richest Russians. Only 46 of them  are under EU, US or UK sanctions. That doesn't sound very much like an all-out war on Putin's oligarchs to me. 
forbes.ru/rating/426935-…

14/28 Oligarch Potanin praises Putin publicly. He brags that sanctions do not matter to him. That western politicians do not know what inconvenience and discomfort are, but he, for Putin's sake, will endure anything. Number 2 on the Forbes list. Still not sanctioned.

15/28 The oligarchs Bokarev and Makhmudov. They are real mafiosi involved in organized crime, just google their names. Moreover, their companies supply diesel engines and units for warships.
russian.rt.com/russia/article…

16/28 Oligarch Ziyad Manassir, who paid for Putin's palace and gave two palaces to Miller. Did he trick Brussels and Downing Street and pass himself off as someone else? How else would his whole family still be able to live in the UK and France?

17/28 Georgy Berezkin, responsible for destroying freedom of speech in Russia, oligarch and owner of propaganda media and six chalets in Courchevel. Sanctions? None that I've heard of. 

munscanner.com/2022/03/berezk…

18/28 It is clear to me that the officials are either not doing their job in good faith, or are happy to be deceived themselves. Or did I hear a briefcase opening?

19/28 Liza Peskova, daughter of Putin's press secretary Peskov, has transferred the flat in Paris that her daddy gave her to her mother (with a different last name). The flat is safe now. Well done, Liza.

20/28 Even the crazy freak Medvedev, who glorifies war every day and threatens to invade all neighboring countries, was able to fool the European Union by simply transferring his yacht Fotinia to some random firm. It is now safely docked in Finland.

21/28 Valentina Tereshkova. The famous cosmonaut, but also member of the State Duma and the face of Putin's party. She can go on living in her house in Italy. She's not under any sanctions, simply because she didn't come to the Duma the day they voted for the invasion of Ukraine.

22/28 No one is demanding to get these Putin lovers summarily executed, to set their yachts and villas on fire and destroy them. No, we only propose a travel ban and freezing of assets. If they hate the West so much, they shouldn't travel there!

23/28 Are you aware that Putin has a whole army of stars of all sorts who are wearing Z's and are foaming at the mouth over the greatness of Putin? There's a very simple solution here: if you publicly advocate the war, you get banned from the EU, the US and the UK. For 20 years.

24/28 This should also work in the opposite direction. Here is a simple and straightforward mechanism for avoiding sanctions: you must publicly declare that you are against the war and stop supporting Putin's regime through words, deeds, and money.

25/28 We can't expect a split among Putin's elite on the issue of war if, despite a lot of chatter, we still don't use the stick against them, while allowing them to keep all their carrots.

26/28 Let us honestly admit that the officials simply will not work without any outside pressure. Especially when the lobbyists and lawyers hired by Putin's thieves make that sweet sound of a briefcase opening.

27/28 I call on all voters and legislators in the EU, UK, US and Canada to put pressure on the executive branch and force them to stop engaging in demagoguery and urgently get down to massive personal sanctions against Putin's thieves.

28/28 We must get the foreign officials to support our List of 6,000 or create their own instead of babbling on endlessly, and actually do what has been loudly and fervently proclaimed since the first day of the war. 
acf.international/list-of-war-en…