While Western governments delude themselves into thinking that their economic sanctions are actually hurting the Russian economy, the reality beneath the surface is quite different. The decisions taken by the EU, UK and North America are not coordinated enough and underestimate the ability of cunning Russian oligarchs to avoid them, especially in sectors vital to the global economy, such as food.
The question is not just whether oligarchs are still able to afford luxury villas or huge yachts, although there is plenty of evidence for this: for example, the Tel Aviv suburb of Herzliya has a $65 million villa by Roman Abramovich and a multi-million dollar estate owned by fertilizer entrepreneur Moshe Kantor. Abramovich and Kantor are certainly not sitting in the ruins of their homes left with no water and intermittent electricity due to Russian bombing. The worst consequence they suffer from war is that the sanctions imposed on them result in a temporary loss of social prestige, as even unscrupulous charities feel remorse.
The European Jewish Congress had to reluctantly abandon Kantor, who was three times president of the Congress, as well as several Holocaust memorial charities. And the King and Tony Blair are presumably not as thrilled with Kantor’s donations to their favorite causes. But you don’t need a lawyer’s ingenuity to transform your holdings in big companies in a way that makes real ownership seem to disappear. Otherwise, how would Abramovich have managed to buy a Dutch football team (Vitesse, ed) when he already owned Chelsea?
Fertilizers are big business, worth $250 billion globally. Russia and Belarus are important players in this industry, especially in nitrogen and potash. The Kantor-led fertilizer giant Akron still operates potash mines in Canada, despite its name appearing on that country’s list of sanctioned oligarchs. In fact, their mine is located right on the route where the Canadian military conducts training programs for Ukrainian soldiers.
Joint ventures are another way to escape sanctions. The Rio Tinto group’s annual report reveals an innocuously named partnership – “CanPacific Potash Inc” – which has a $500 million mine under development in Albany. UK sanctions, dealing with frozen funds or economic assets owned, owned, held or controlled by a sanctioned person is prohibited.
Perhaps Kantor is upset that he cannot visit his multimillion-dollar home in suburban Hampstead Garden, but nothing has been done to cut his profits because two governments that support Ukraine are not working together. While we hear a lot about Russia having to redirect oil and gas exports to India and China, business in other sectors continues regardless: fertilizers, but also nuclear services.
Source: IL Tempo

John Cameron is a journalist at The Nation View specializing in world news and current events, particularly in international politics and diplomacy. With expertise in international relations, he covers a range of topics including conflicts, politics and economic trends.