INVOLVED IN MY CASE SINCE 1995, BILL BROWDER AGREES WITH ME ON RUSSIAN SOURCE OF MONEY ISSUES: Putin nemesis Bill Browder reveals the 'real money' funding Kremlin's war
NEW YORK — A trillion dollars: That’s how much money famed investor Bill Browder believes Vladimir Putin and Russian oligarchs have stolen from the Russian people since the fall of the Soviet Union.
“And that was money that was supposed to be spent on health care and education, roads and services,” Browder said at a Manhattan event to celebrate the publication of his second book, “Freezing Order,” which chronicles how he became a Putin nemesis as a result of his attempts to expose Kremlin corruption. Those efforts led to the death of Browder’s attorney Sergei Magnitsky, who was tortured in a Russian prison and whose name is affixed to sanctions bills passed by Congress.
American-born British financier and political activist Bill Browder. (Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images)
Learning of Magnitsky’s death was “the most heartbreaking, traumatic, and devastating moment of my life,” Browder writes — and a sign of how committed Putin was willing to pursuing perceived enemies of the state. The grandson of American communist leader Earl Browder, Bill Browder had made billions through Hermitage Capital Management, the fund he started in 1996, during the chaotic period of full-contact Russian capitalism.
As Browder heightened scrutiny of some of the companies he invested in — most notably, energy giant Gazprom — he ran afoul of a Kremlin that, under Putin, has declared such questions off limits, as they would go to the very heart of the kleptocracy that had ruled Russia since the nation’s industry was sold off and plundered in the early 1990s.
“Everyone tries to think about Russia as a sovereign state and Putin as a leader acting in national interest,” Browder said to Yahoo News, describing that outlook as a fundamental misunderstanding. “You think you can apply political science to Russia. You need to apply criminal science. You need to be a criminologist to understand Russia. People don’t go into government to serve the country. They go into government to steal money.”
Browder was banned from entering Russia in 2005 and has since watched a series of American presidents try to improve relations with the Kremlin. He now lives in London, a city favored by the oligarchs he despises.
Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Alexey Nikolsky/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)
“We basically said, ‘It's OK. We want your money. We want your oil,’” Browder told Yahoo News in an interview at the Century Club ahead of Tuesday’s book release party.
Today it is uncontroversial to call Putin a war criminal. But the man bombing Kharkiv is the same one who leveled the Chechen capital, Grozny, in 2000, invaded Georgia in 2008 and seized Ukrainian territory for the first time in 2014. “When I walked into the offices of government ministers in Europe, or the United States, back in the early days talking about sanctioning Russia — it’s like I walked in with a giant turd on my head,” Browder said.
Today, Browder is known less as an investor than as a human rights campaigner and Putin critic. Tuesday’s party thus included an eclectic mix: the professional basketball player Enes Kanter Freedom, former federal prosecutor Preet Bharara, private equity giant Stephen Schwarzman and National Review journalist Jay Nordlinger, who in 2017 highlighted the refusal of federal authorities to allow Browder into the U.S. The decision was reversed.
Browder is especially withering when it comes to the Western attorneys, bankers and publicists who help Putin’s oligarchs hide their ill-gotten gains, sue investigative journalists into submission and burnish their blood-spattered records with favorable coverage.
There could be only one motive for Western firms to do business with the Kremlin, Browder believes. “They’re just a bunch of greedy bastards that are trying to make as much money as possible,” he said, alluding to the legal travails of British journalist Catherine Belton, who was sued for reporting on Kremlin corruption. “They don’t care who they’re working for.”
Representatives of the Russian General Prosecutor's Office make a statement on Bill Browder, the anti-Kremlin campaigner wanted on tax evasion charges, Nov. 19, 2018. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images)
Last week, Browder testified in Washington during a hearing on the Enablers Act, which would tighten already existing rules around money laundering, in effect providing more government scrutiny into the secretive movement of funds from countries like China and Russia.
“If we make banks report dirty money but allow law, real estate and accounting firms to look the other way, that creates a loophole that crooks and kleptocrats can sail a yacht through,” Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., said last fall when introducing the legislation. While it targets any institution or individual abetting money laundering, the measure has assumed a new urgency since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
Browder has additionally called for foreign accomplices of Russia to be deprived of entry into the United States, a proposal clearly aimed at Kremlin allies residing in the British capital, which has earned the unflattering nickname “Londongrad.” He bemoans the notion that high-profile seizures of oligarchs’ yachts give the impression of fatal blows, when they are really just minor difficulties or men worth billions.
“The real money is held in highly complex trusts and structures,” Browder said, in offshore havens like Jersey and the Cayman Islands.
Sanctions are one way to fight Putin. Weapons are another. “The Ukrainians say they need a no fly-zone,” he pointed out, rejecting the idea that such a move would immediately lead to nuclear war. “At what point,” he wondered, “do you finally stand up to Russia?”
A destroyed building in the town of Borodianka, Ukraine. (Genya Savilov/AFP via Getty Images)
And much as he would like to see Putin defeated, he hopes to return to Russia one day when it is a free country, one that doesn’t threaten him with prison or murder.
“It’s fascinating. It’s interesting. It’s unforgettable. It’s horrible,” Browder told Yahoo News. “It’s nasty, brutish. It’s got everything. If Putin wasn’t in power, and there was a democratic government, I would love to go back there.”
Off course it those that continue to purchase from Russia that are guilty - because of weapons you answer with economic sanctions right !!???? Am I right !!??? Well, thats at least what Romanovs from London tutored me to see future massacre of Ukraine as...Buckingham palace, Berlin, and Washington DC rushed to alert me about future financial translations during "war on Ukraine" with whole pack of countries for which I should as brainwashed express utter repulse - rejection and ultimately bark at them...well, it doesn't work like this here...
The Bank of Russia will continue buying gold at a fixed price of 5,000 rubles ($59) per 1 gram until June 30. Russia may thus have a chance to return to the gold standard for the first time in over a hundred years.
According to BullionStar Singapore precious metals analyst Ronan Manley, Russia's decision to switch to rubles in settlements with counterparties will entail significant consequences for the Russian currency, for the US dollar, and for the entire global economy.
According to him, by pegging the ruble to gold, which is traded in US dollars, the Bank of Russia set a minimum price for the ruble in US dollar terms.
"Back on March 25, the ruble was traded at 100 rubles per one US dollar. Now the Russian ruble has gone up to 80 rubles per dollar. This is because gold is traded on international markets at about 62 dollars per gram, which is equivalent to (5,000/62) = about 80.5. Both the markets and arbitrage traders have taken note of this, and the RUB/USD rate has increased," Ronan Manley said in an interview with RT.
With the new peg of gold to the ruble, the strengthening of the Russian currency will affect the price of gold, the expert added.
The energy market will react too
Russia is the world's largest natural gas exporter and the world's third largest oil exporter. Having switched into Russian rubles in settlements for energy resources, Russia pegged the price of gas to it and then to the price of gold, due to the fixed connection with gold. In a nutshell, the Russian gas is now linked with gold through the ruble.
"The same can now be done with Russian oil. If Russia begins to demand payment for oil exports with rubles, there will be an immediate indirect peg to gold (via the fixed price ruble — gold connection). Then Russia could begin accepting gold directly in payment for its oil exports. In fact, this can be applied to any commodities, not just oil and natural gas," Ronan Manley told RT.
By playing with both sides of the equation, that is, by pegging the ruble to gold and then pegging energy payments to the ruble, the Bank of Russia and the Kremlin fundamentally change all the working assumptions of the global trading system, accelerating changes in the global monetary system, he says.
What does this mean for the ruble?
The pegging of the ruble to gold through the fixed price of the Bank of Russia has now laid the foundation for the RUB/USD rate and thus stabilized and strengthened the Russian currency.
"Demanding that natural gas exports are paid for in rubles (and possibly oil and other commodities down the line) will again act as stabilization and support. If a majority of the international trading system begins accepting these rubles for commodity payments arrangements, this could propel the Russian ruble to becoming a major global currency. At the same time, any move by Russia to accept direct gold for oil payments will cause more international gold to flow into Russian reserves, which would also strengthen the balance sheet of the Bank of Russia and in turn strengthen the ruble."
According to the analyst, we are now witnessing the birth of a new monetary system, which is going to be backed by gold and raw materials, rather than by the supremacy of the US dollar.
END OF ARTICLE
@UKRAINE - THIS WILL BE MY LAST ARTICLE IN RESPECT TO YOUR WAR: The new borders, they have already chartered you on google maps(at most you can hope for) - you are being "denazified" with anywhere from Tor(THOR) missile system to VIKING 9K317M
"Russian" BMPT Terminator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMPT_Terminator was obtained for Russia by Arnold Schwarzenegger(YES, THE ONE WHO GAVE LATELY SPEECH TO RUSSIANS ABOUT NOT ATTCKING YOU - PREPARED 15 YEARS AHEAD OF THE WAR ON YOU), and Russian warship known as Moskva(built in 1976) was sent for you to sink one by Vladimir Putin alone I cite Putin, "no no, they will destroy Moscow eventually...I will prepare old rotten ship and equip one well enough for Ukrainians to have satisfaction - they should will and should look brave"....
AT ANY TIME NOW AS WAS TOLD BY ISRAELIS(IN THIS HOUSE) FOR WHOM QUESTION IS WHETHER THEY DID OR NOT RELEASE/SOLD WHAT YOU SEE HERE ALREADY TO RUSSIA IN 2017(THEY HAVE HAD THIS ALREADY IN 2015), DRONES WILL BE HISTORY AND ALONG WITH DRONES YOUR COUNTRY AS WELL. I cite Israelis, "when you see news as seen here, you know its over -sooner than latter...sooner than latter"....
Know Slovenian state which bares Russian flag as flag is after me - something your leading personnel knew and even counted on. I may not last in the game much longer, so my time is therefore even of greater importance to me as for dead end cause I will not waste one....
@Israel - you yourself are supporting side which wanted to wipe you out at all costs during WWII and after WWII(during USSR), but its okay(its your right).
I cite Schwarzenegger, "here is the one I got them and fought bloody for one to get one"....
I cite Vladimir Putin, "we are extremely grateful and didn't know how to award you so we named one after your terminator movie"....
MY BANKING ACCOUNTS AS WELL AS ANY OTHER MEANS USED FOR DONATIONS ARE BLOCKED BY LONDON/BERLIN AND WASHINGTON DC AS YOU KNOW - I HAVE NEVER RECEIVED A SINGLE DIME OF SUPPORT FROM ANYONE. LIFE EXPENSES ARE NOT FREE AND TIME(WITH MY HEALTH AS YOUR ALLIES ANTICIPATED AND CREATED SEVERELY DEPLETED - RUINED) EVEN LESS...
GOOD LUCK IN FIGHTING ON FOREIGN MISSIONS WITH(FOR) THOSE WHOM WE HAVE FOUGHT AGAINST TOGETHER, BUT WERE NEVER CAPABLE TO REALIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF SUPPORTING ONE ANOTHER BECAUSE OF THOSE WHO RAN SHOW ALSO IN YOUR COUNTRY.
There was a huge dilemma - American psychologists evaluated my response to names and have created different versions for Russian arms of which Putin gestured wouldn't be recognizable due to slight but most important Western modifications of one...Norwegian king Harold when last time in this room told me to remember than Tor in Russian arsenal - the so called nordic power...this "denazification" war if anything is laughable.
As far as Arnold Schwarzenegger I cite one, "they will not even know whom I am addressing"...
And you will remember city of Mariupol only from reading foreign news outlets where British soldier who contributed nothing was also involved till last one surrendered... WOULD NEVER EVER ALLOW ONE TO PARTICIPATE ANYWHERE - IF YOU WANT TO WRITE ABOUT ONE WHEN IT COMES TO ISSUE AS GREAT AS SUCH(FALL OF ENTIRE CITY LIKE MARIUPOL), YOU HAVE TO BAIL CITY OUT OF RUINS WITH YOUR OWN MILITARY OR THE FUCK OUT...this British soldier was involved i my case for quite some time and British had agreement with Putin in respect to one as well as with Ukrainian government to keep him safe on the side...."would be" used to secure others who were compelled to surrender to Putin !!!
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