Putin calls Russians living in Miami 'traitors'

Putin called Russians living in a large area in Miami and the French Riviera “traitors to the motherland.” Writes about this Miami Herald.

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Russians living in Miami and the French Riviera "who can't do without foie gras, oysters or so-called gender freedoms" are traitors to their homeland, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

US and European sanctions have eroded the value of the Russian ruble since Putin ordered a brutal military invasion of Ukraine three weeks ago, sending the country's economy into a tailspin.

“Western powers are betting on national traitors – on those who make money here, with us, but live there,” Putin said at a meeting with regional leaders on the economic consequences of the crisis.

He accused Russian émigrés living abroad of being “ready to sell their own mother,” sympathizing more with the West, because they are “mentally located exactly there, and not here, not with our people, not with Russia.”

“I do not at all condemn those who have a villa in Miami or on the French Riviera, who cannot do without foie gras, oysters or so-called gender freedoms,” he explained. “This is what they consider – in their opinion – a sign of belonging to a higher caste, to a higher race.”

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His remarks come at a time when US and European security forces are trying to track down the assets of Russian oligarchs placed abroad, often under the names of proxies or pumped through offshore bank accounts and shell companies. The whereabouts of Putin's own wealth remains a mystery.

Putin himself was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department last week - an extremely rare action against a sitting head of state - and all organizations directly or indirectly owned by Putin within US jurisdiction are now blocked.

A senior US official declined to comment when asked if the administration knew where the Russian leader kept his money. Miami is home to one of the country's largest Russian diasporas, and the city has been identified along with Manhattan as one of the two largest hotspots for illegal real estate investment in the United States.

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In addition to sanctions against high-ranking Russian officials and oligarchs, the administration of US President Joe Biden froze the assets of the Russian central bank, sanctioned the country's largest banks and excluded them from the world's largest financial transaction system - all moves that were also replicated by European powers .

The White House, among other things, banned the import of Russian oil and closed the access of Russian commercial aircraft to US airspace.

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