41–50 of 151 posts
I don't think punishing rich Russians living abroad even with some connection to Putin or the Russian government is helpful. It's likely illegal and the kind of thing that we'll look back upon as excessive.
> The foundation will be for the benefit of all victims of the war in Ukraine. Whoever formulated this is a PR genius. The West will read it as "the [Russian aggression] war in Ukraine". Putin can be made believe it meant "the [Ukrainian nazi government] war in [the Donbas region of] Ukraine".
Around the same time Abramovich used the proceeds of his dealings in Russia to buy London based football club Chelsea. It was speculated he wanted a productive asset that would be beyond Putin’s reach as well as building up a public profile so he couldn’t be disappeared like Khordokovsky.
In the last 20 years, he has loaned around £1.5 billion of his money to the club because it made losses most of the time he owned it. This despite winning almost all available trophies at least once during that period. Still a sound investment, because the club he bought for £140 million is worth at least £2.5 billion today.
There’s a few interesting things we can infer from this statement where he says he’s selling the club and giving all proceeds to victims of the war in Ukraine
- Abramovich thinks that the war and sanctions are going to last a while. As someone with access to Putin, he must have realised that Putin isn’t planning to back down, and therefore neither is the US and EU. He can’t ride this one out.
- he knows that sanctions are coming for him and most of his US and EU based assets are going to be seized. Might as well say you’re giving them to charity if they’re gone anyway
- he retains some measure of control here. A charitable foundation with some trusted members controlling the money is preferable to control by Her Majesty’s Government.
Ironic that he got the club to avoid seizure by Putin but it got seized in the end anyway.
It's creepy to see how quickly people turned on Russian nationals living abroad. What exactly is an "oligarch" anyway? Someone with money? Someone with links to Putin? What kinds of links? I don't think punishing rich Russians living abroad even with some connection to Putin or the Russian government is helpful. It's likely illegal and the kind of thing that we'll look back upon as excessive.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_oligarch
It's not a generic slur for "billionaire" its a much more specific term relating implicating them as beneficiaries in a kleptocratic system.
Why not just transfer it to a foundation along with the debts?
The weasel-wording and slow-rolling gives the appearance of an attempt to evade consequences.
It's creepy to see how quickly people turned on Russian nationals living abroad. What exactly is an "oligarch" anyway? Someone with money? Someone with links to Putin? What kinds of links? I don't think punishing rich Russians living abroad even with some connection to Putin or the Russian government is helpful. It's likely illegal and the kind of thing that we'll look back upon as excessive.
Imagine if in the US we had political upheaval, and Hunter Biden was gifted ExxonMobil or something. That's what the oligarchs did.
>Moreover, I have instructed my team to set up a charitable foundation where all net proceeds from the sale will be donated. The foundation will be for the benefit of all victims of the war in Ukraine. That's quite the statement coming from one of Russia's biggest oligarch.
"net proceeds" being the key phrase. This doesn't sound like he's donating all the money from the sale. It sounds like if he sells it for more than he originally paid for it, that extra will be donated.
>Moreover, I have instructed my team to set up a charitable foundation where all net proceeds from the sale will be donated. The foundation will be for the benefit of all victims of the war in Ukraine. That's quite the statement coming from one of Russia's biggest oligarch.
"net proceeds" being the key phrase. This doesn't sound like he's donating all the money from the sale. It sounds like if he sells it for more than he originally paid for it, that extra will be donated.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Chelsea FC is not profitable, so what proceeds can possibly be donated? Even after winning the Champions League they lost money.
This is literally a forum made for startups. Businesses that may lose money but are worth a lot. Does that ring a bell? Abramovich bought a club for £140m, invested around £1.5 billion in it, and now it’s worth twice that. It’s worth is based on what a prospective buyer will pay, not a multiple of earnings.
Is FC going to double next year? And the year after?
It's creepy to see how quickly people turned on Russian nationals living abroad. What exactly is an "oligarch" anyway? Someone with money? Someone with links to Putin? What kinds of links? I don't think punishing rich Russians living abroad even with some connection to Putin or the Russian government is helpful. It's likely illegal and the kind of thing that we'll look back upon as excessive.