London today called for expanding sanctions imposed on Russian businesspeople. Russian President's spokesman Dmitry Peskov has already called this an example of Britain's Russophobic mania. In a weird coincidence, reports have appeared that Roman Abramovich had suddenly faced problems with a UK visa.
Our correspondent in the UK Alexander Khabarov reports on what's going on in the Kingdom.
"Where is Roman Abramovich?" Chelsea fans kept asking each other last Saturday. Their football club had just won the FA Cup, but its owner was nowhere to be seen on the grandstands during the final game. Rumors of the Russian billionaire's visa problems swirled immediately. His private Boeing last departed from England on April 1. He has never returned there since. BBC quoted sources close to Abramovich as saying that his UK visa had expired in late April, but he never renewed it. Reportedly, he has not been denied a visa, it's just an unexpected delay with renewal. A spokesman for Roman Abramovich, John Mann, has declined to comment. The British Home Office has also kept mum.
"We don't comment on individual cases".
Most likely, Abramovich was here on an investor's visa. It's also known as a "golden visa". Today the UK issues them to those who can invest 2 million pounds in its economy. Subject to meeting certain conditions, it can be later converted into a residence permit. More than 700 Russian businesspeople benefited from this arrangement between 2008 and 2015. That said, the program is popular with people from other countries as well.
The idyll was ruined a month and a half ago, when in the aftermath of the so-called "Skripal case" the British government said it would review visas issued to wealthy Russians. Whether Abramovich has been blacklisted is not known, but the very fact that the owner of one of the most prestigious football clubs is facing delays obtaining an entry document speaks for itself.
The football world believes that Abramovich has in fact rescued Chelsea by buying it 15 years ago. He has since invested more than 3 billion pounds in the club. Yet the British establishment prefers to talk about "Russian dirty money" right now, and also about how to counter it.
Theresa May, UK PM: "Through the Criminal Finances Act, we've taken greater powers for the UK to be able to act against criminal finances. And we will ensure that we do so. Obviously, when we're talking about criminal finances, we're talking about law enforcement taking their actions, and they must do so".
London published today a hastily drafted report by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. Its title: "Moscow’s Gold: Russian Corruption in the UK." The report's authors propose an already tired counteracting method – sanctions. Judging by its tone, businesspeople loyal to the Russian government are by default in the risk zone.
Alexander Yakovenko, Russia's Ambassador to the UK: "The report raises a lot of questions because, despite a lot of various interviews in it, it says nothing about people caught laundering money in Russia. There are more than 60 of those, and they have siphoned off substantial amounts, and not only have the British given them political asylum, they flatly refuse to talk with us about this subject at all".
Transparency International has called London the global capital of money laundering, in which local lawyers, bankers, and real estate agents are all taking part. The UK economy as a whole is making billions from servicing foreign capital. Hence the investor's visa and other attractions for the wealthy. But now it turns out that foreigners' gold may get confiscated after all.
Strained relations with Moscow have affected other areas too. Over the past 3 years, the number of Russian students at private British schools has fallen by 40%, reversing a trend that had continued from 2007. Studies in England used to be just as prestigious and lucrative investments as London real estate. Yet the image of a safe haven for capital has been fading like a mirage. Politics is creeping into business.
Alexander Khabarov, Ilya Mordyukov, reporting for Vesti from London.
