He is a billionaire in an unusual situation: he has no access to cash. Because this month, Mikhail Fridman became another Russian oligarch to be punched with those economic shackles: sanctions.
Correspondent Seth Doane asked Fridman, “Do you have billions of dollars in a bank?”
“Yeah Al that sounds pretty crap to me, Looks like BT aint for me either.
“But can’t you touch him?”
“Not at all.”
“How did you know you were sanctioned?”
“From television.”
To punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine, the US and its allies renounce military intervention and using the financial weapon of sanctionsaimed at both the state and people considered close to Putin. Striking goods such as yachts are being confiscatedand frozen bank accounts.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced that “London’s oligarchs will have nowhere to hide.” In his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden told the oligarchs, “We are coming for your illegal profits.” And European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “All these measures will significantly damage Putin’s ability to finance this war.”
- The United States is targeting “Putin’s friends” with a new round of sanctions on Russian oligarchs
- Economic shock and admiration: the strategy behind economic sanctions against Russia (“60 minutes”)
- What is a Russian oligarch? That’s the decent thing to do, and it should end there
- Are sanctions in Russia enough to stop Putin’s war?
Fridman, who earned billions in banking and retail and now lives in London, is on the UK and EU sanctions lists.
Doane asked, “If you put your card in the ATM?”
“No, my card is locked, you know, so I couldn’t get any money; all my accounts are locked.” answered.
“I wouldn’t expect you to tell me in front of the camera, but would you think a billionaire should have access to money, somewhere?”
“No, no.”
“There must be an account …”
“There must be, but it’s not.”
“It seems hard to believe.”
CBS News
“But that’s why I’m here,” Fridman said. “That’s why I’m here, because I would like to explain: sanction against us [is] unfair, useless. For what? What have we done wrong other than do business in Russia? “
Doane asked, “Can’t a rich Russian businessman close to Putin have any impact?”
“So, first of all, you should understand that the power gap between Mr. Putin and everyone around him is enormous. Even assuming I want to send messages, I have no channel to do so.” .
“Can’t you make billions without being close to the Kremlin?”
“Yeah, that’s a very typical and inappropriate myth,” Fridman said. “Most Russian private businessmen have no personal ties to Mr Putin.”
Tom Burgis, author of “Kleptopia: How Dirty Money Is Conquering the World,” told Doane: “Since his early days in power, Putin has been using corruption as a tool to enrich and expand his power. “Everyone swims in that water.”
HarperCollins
He says the West is fed up with Russian money, either on property (like Fridman’s $ 85 million mansion in London, now a frozen asset) or on sports teams (Chelsea Football Club, one of the most valuable franchises). of the world, is the property of the sanctioned oligarch). Roman Abramovich).
Doane asked Burgis, “How do you know this is dirty money being blocked by these sanctions?”
“Gross money is a pretty hard thing to define,” he replied. “You could argue that anyone who has made and retained a huge fortune in a dictatorship that we know is deeply corrupt, then that person is more or less complicit in the power of this regime.”
To prove his money is clean, Fridman sent Ernst and Young an audit of “CBS Sunday Morning,” which he commissioned.
Fridman is a man on horseback from different worlds. He is Russian and Jewish, and was born and raised in what is now Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union).
“I have always been in contact with the Ukrainian authorities, including President Zelensky,” he said.
“What do you think of President Zelensky?” Doane asked.
“I think he’s the president of an independent country, and he’s a very brave and strong person from what I understand.”
In a letter to employees before being sanctioned, Fridman wrote, “War can never be the answer.” He is one of the few oligarchs to speak out against the invasion of Ukraine.
“You said you were against the war,” Doane said.
“I’m against the war, very, very much.”
“But can’t you criticize Putin?”
“I think right now in a climate like Russia it’s not very tolerant of that,” Fridman said. “Mr Putin recently made a very clear speech about the traitors, you know, a kind of ‘enemies of the state.’
“Do you think he was talking about you?”
“I don’t know. I definitely don’t think I’m an enemy of the state!”
“Do you think you’re a traitor to Putin?”
“I hope not,” he said. “But it seems.”
“What does this mean for you?”
“It’s a very difficult situation, in any dimension.”
“Of all the people suffering from this war, many do not have much sympathy for Russian billionaires.”
“You’re right. And I understand that attitude,” Fridman said.
He acknowledges the effectiveness of the broader sanctions that have paralyzed Russia’s economy, but says it is collateral damage: “What about the presumption of innocence, things like that? This is just a decision by unknown bureaucrats who they decided I was guilty by definition, because I am the Russian oligarch, just to feed the public demand to punish someone. “
Coane asked Tom Burgis, “Fridman says, where is the process due to this?”
“Fridman is right,” he replied. “There are officials and politicians who write names on the lists. What you really want is a criminal trial, right? If someone is guilty of corruption, you can prosecute them for it. The danger of sanctions is that they start creating this system. out of the rule of law, where people are attacked with very little due process. “
For more information:
- “Kleptopia: How Dirty Money Is Conquering the World” by Tom Burgis (HarperCollins), hardcover, commercial paperback, e-book and audio formats, available on Amazon and Indiebound
Story produced by Mikaela Bufano. Editor: George Pozderec.
Add Comment