Sanctions Against Russian Oligarchs ‘Achieving Their Goals,’ ICIJ Study of Pandora Papers Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 5 – The Russian telegram channel, “Sanctions Times,” has reposted without criticism the conclusion of an examination of the Pandora Papers by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists that Western sanctions against Russian oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin “have achieved their goals.”

            That conclusion, reported yesterday by the Washington Post, has now been picked up in Russia and is likely to spread across independent media and lead more Russians to view the sanctions regime as directed primarily against the regime rather than themselves (t.me/sanctionstimes/738 reposted by rusmonitor.com/sankczii-protiv-rossijskih-oligarhov-dostigli-svoih-czelej.html).

            The ICIJ cited the conclusions of the Treasury Department of the US government and the telegram channel repeats them: “The sanctions were imposed on the oligarchs because of the ‘malicious’ actions of Russia which they are close to. [The oligarchs] have devoted all their efforts to avoid the consequences, sometimes by restructuring their holdings or changing the formal ownership of shares.”

            “Nevertheless,” the department concludes in the words of ICIJ, sanctions “have infected significant damage to the oligarch and caused serious losses to them in all segments of the chains of their financial networks.”