The office of theGeorgian ombudsmanasked on Tuesday the European Court of Human Rights to prioritize the lawsuits filed by Georgians over the latest surveillance scandal that erupted when a TV station aired leaked videos that showed to what extent politicians, journalists and activists were spied on.
VTB, a Russian bank sanctioned by the EU for its ties to the Kremlin, secretly owned a luxury Alpine hotel until 2015. Its current owners appear to be proxies for VTB Chairman Andrei Kostin.
A man named Eric Whyte controls offshores that own luxury properties and investments worth millions. Clues suggest he is acting as a proxy for Andrei Kostin, a sanctioned Russian banker with strong Kremlin ties.
Sibur, one of Russia’s largest companies, has previously unknown involvement with two properties that have been linked to President Putin, one in Russia’s far northwest and the other on the sunny shores of the Black Sea.
An email domain not visible to the public — LLCInvest.ru — helped reporters uncover a group of interconnected companies that hold palaces, resorts, yachts, jets, and bank accounts full of cash.
Even as Moscow governor Andrei Vorobyev has come out in favor of Putin’s war, his brother Maxim, who runs the family fish business, is making investments around the world.
Russian politicians under Western sanctions, financial criminals, and corrupt European officials all own real estate in the emirate, which attracts investors with liberal residency rules and a ‘few questions asked’ approach to regulation.
RCB Bank was set up and owned by a Russian bank dubbed Putin’s “piggy bank.” Despite making moves to obscure its Russian ties following the invasion of Ukraine, current and former RCB executives have ties to the Kremlin and acquired Cypriot passports under dubious circumstances.