How did US sanctions affect Russian oligarchs

The US Treasury Department reported how, in his opinion, US sanctions affected Russian oligarchs. The report with the findings of the department published on its website.

Фото: Depositphotos

The open part of the document describes what results the United States has achieved thanks to sanctions in general, including the losses of Russian oligarchs and the economy. The US Treasury calls its sanctions program one of the most “active and influential.”

The report was published under the Sanctions Act, which President Donald Trump signed on August 2017. Now the Ministry of Finance has described exactly how these sanctions are and what they led to. At the same time, the ministry notes that it has compiled a document based on open data.

According to the report, in all since 2017, the US administration has imposed sanctions on 215 organizations and individuals associated with Russia. As a result, Russian assets were blocked on 100 million dollars.

These data are contained in the public part of the report. There is also a classified part, which contains a study of “Russian politicians and oligarchs, assessing their closeness to the regime,” as well as their corrupt activities, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.

The Russian service of the BBC studied the materials and describes the main theses of the US Treasury.

Losses of Russian businessmen

The most painful US sanctions imposed 6 on April of this year - against a number of Russian businessmen and related companies. Among them were Viktor Vekselberg (ninth place on the Russian Forbes list) and Oleg Deripaska (19-number on the Russian Forbes list).

Oleg Deripaska was included in the US sanctions list along with the En + Group, the Kuban agricultural holding, Basic Element, the off-shore structure B-Finance, through which Deripaska owns part of the shares in En +, GAZ Group, Eurosibenergo, and Russians machines "and RUSAL.

Together with Vekselberg, the Renova company came under sanctions.

According to the US Treasury, Vekselberg's fortune as a result of sanctions decreased by $3 billion - from $16,4 billion to $13,5 billion (as of July 26). In addition, the Ministry of Finance reported that Vekselberg’s Renova company was forced to sell its shares in companies in Switzerland and Italy, as well as limit cooperation with the American investment company Columbus Nova.

In addition, the US Treasury reported that the accounts of Vekselberg and Deripaska were frozen in Cypriot banks. Deripaska has Cypriot citizenship, and Vekselberg, through the Renova structures, owns almost 10% of the Bank of Cyprus, RBC recalls.

“Vekselberg did not and does not have accounts in Cyprus. As for the structures affiliated with Renova, if they had any money in their accounts in Cypriot banks, it was very insignificant,” said Vekselberg’s official representative Andrei Shtorkh in response to questions from the BBC about the businessman’s losses as a result of sanctions.

Deripaska lost half of his fortune, according to the report of the Ministry of Finance. Russian Forbes 19 April estimated his fortune at 6,7 billion dollars. 21 in August, according to Forbes, which considers the wealth of the world's richest people in real time, Deripaska’s fortune was 3,3 billion dollars.

The BBC sent an official request to Rusal, but has not yet received a response.

In addition, the US Treasury mentions, sanctions were also imposed against a member of the board of directors and shareholder of Sibur, Kirill Shamalov, whom the American authorities call “Putin’s former son-in-law.” Also mentioned in the materials of the US Treasury are the heads of state-owned companies and state-owned banks and officials. Nothing is said about their losses in the open part of the report.

Investment reduction

According to the US Treasury, due to sanctions from the West, investments in Russia, including in oil and gas production, have fallen sharply. Since 2013, total foreign direct investment in Russia has declined by 5%, while US investments have dropped by 80%, the report says.

"Active and influential program"

The US Treasury calls its Russian sanctions program one of the most “active and influential”.

The report of the US Treasury describes how its specialists are trying to establish interaction with other countries to curb illegal financial flows from Russia. For example, experts of the American Ministry of Finance interact with the leadership and officials of other countries.

In particular, they travel to EU countries, which also imposed sanctions on Russia.

In addition, the US Treasury holds roundtables with banks in countries that, as stated in US Treasury materials, may be “highly likely to engage in money laundering.” Cyprus and Latvia are given as examples.

The US administration is trying to continue to convince European countries to develop the mechanisms necessary for gathering, analyzing and processing information about Russia's illegal financial activity, the report says.

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