The West has imposed sanctions on wealthy Russian oligarchs since President Vladimir Putin ordered troops to invade Ukraine – but some see the measures as mere public relations exercises that are unlikely to have a major impact. “I think when it comes to sanctions against oligarchs, they are honestly symbolic,” Tom Keatinge, director of financial crime and security studies at the Royal United Services Institute, told CNN. “It’s definitely a public relations exercise.” The Western sanctions package – which also includes restricting trade, banning trade with Russia’s central bank and cutting off access to foreign exchange reserves – aims to cut the country’s economy, cut funding for its military. and put pressure on Putin to end the conflict. . However, some commentators doubt how influential the oligarchs in the Kremlin are or are willing to use them, while some of the oligarchs themselves deny being close to Putin.
The oligarchs are “just Putin’s infantry”
Measures taken against the oligarchs – including the seizure of high-profile assets such as real estate, private jets and superyachts – “raise the whole issue of sanctions” but are unlikely to change Putin’s mind, Keatinge said. on Channel 4 News. Similar comments have been made by the exiled Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The former chief executive of Russian oil giant Yukos, an ardent critic of the Kremlin, has said in interviews that sanctions on Russian oligarchs alone would not be enough to persuade Putin to abandon the invasion of Ukraine. Western nations have suggested that sanctioned oligarchs have significant influence over Putin and the Kremlin. When imposing sanctions on Roman Abramovich, for example, the EU said it had “privileged access” to Putin, although Abramovich has repeatedly denied having close personal ties with him. But Khodorkovsky said the oligarchs were “just Putin’s infantry” and “could not influence him.” Keatinge told CNN that it was “very unlikely” that prominent oligarchs would use “the little leverage they have with Putin” to speak out against the invasion of Ukraine. “We have seen what happens if people cross Vladimir Putin,” Kettinge told the agency. “And these people who are being sanctioned will not want to follow the same path.” Some oligarchs have attacked, denying their alleged ties to Putin and calling the sanctions unfair. “What did we do wrong, other than be active in Russia?” told CBS’s Michael Friedman – who founded the largest private bank in Russia and is on the EU and UK sanctions lists. Even if they are believed to have limited effects, sanctions certainly make life uncomfortable for the oligarchs. Friedman said he was “practically under house arrest” after being fined and had to apply to the UK government to spend money. Some people meanwhile carry their yachts, private jets and shares to avoid sanctions. Despite criticism of their restrictions, Khodorkovsky, the exiled oligarch, eventually backed sanctions on Russian oligarchs because he said Putin could use these people to influence the West. “It’s absolutely important that we stop all those Putin’s wallets until the war is over,” Khodorkovsky told CNN in mid-March. He said the West should impose sanctions on the oligarchs, cut off all international cash flow to Russia and block Putin’s bankers. “This is the only thing that will stop the war,” he said.
