Russian oligarchs claim powerlessness while projecting influence
INFINITE WINE!
The Brits have seized a yacht, which is apparently owned by a Russian oligarch. I don’t know who that oligarch is, because he’s hiding behind a Nevisian shell company (Nevis is one of my “favorite” tax havens: read all about it in Moneyland), and his boat flies a Maltese flag. But we do know the Phi has an “infinite wine cellar.”
I don’t know what an infinite wine cellar is, but it may be one of these or, less excitingly, one of these. Still though, it’s surely the most interesting thing that has ever been mentioned in a National Crime Agency press release, and that’s something.
OLIGARCHS
There can be few more contrasting media outreach policies than those currently being run by Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky. Putin, having banned journalists from calling the horror he’s unleashed on Ukraine a “war” and shut down what remained of Russia’s independent media, has taken to state television to rant about “cancel culture.” Zelensky meanwhile seems to give so many interviews it’s a wonder there are enough hours in the day, and yet remains thoughtful and engaged in all of them.
Last week, he spoke to four Russian journalists, and shared some interesting snippets about oligarchs, and the contacts he’s had with them (the question was sparked by a piece in the Wall Street Journal about the White House asking the Treasury, at Zelensky’s request, to delay sanctions on Roman Abramovich because he was helping with peace talks).