Tory Profiteering in Russia and Putin’s Debt of Gratitude

Low and behold, Tory toffs love to profit from Russian affairs. Jacob Rees-Mogg’s Somerset Capital Management Fund has £57 million invested in the blacklisted Russian Sberbank – a company which is subject to EU and US economic sanctions.

Then there is Sir Roderic Lyne — a recent board member of the Petropavlovsk plc (one of the largest producers of gold in Russia), who in earlier years served as the private secretary to John Major for foreign affairs, defence and Northern Ireland.

Presently Sir Roderick serves on the advisory board of the Front Row Group which boasts of being “a leading high-end and luxury holding company, specialising in emerging markets”.  Front Row’s CEO is Russian investment specialist, Richard Wallace, who is a former Managing Director for Renaissance Capital Investment Bank – a bank whose former chief financial officer was current Sberbank board member, Alexander Morozov.

Finally, another Front Row advisor is Viacheslav Kopiev, who is the deputy chairman of Russia’s largest publicly listed holding company, Sistema — whose lucre-loving boardroom is host to none other than Peter Mandelson (another well-known Tory of Blairite stock).

The Blairites and the Tories slandered Jeremy Corbyn, and spent the last few days running-up to the Russian elections attacking Putin. No-one can doubt that Putin loved this warmongering media debacle led by the Tories and backed by the Blairites. And upon receiving a massive 76.7% share of the vote, Putin’s “campaign head thanked Great Britain for mobilising Russian voters over the nerve agent attack.” (“Vladimir Putin secures record win in Russian presidential election,” The Guardian, March 19, 2018.)

Michael Barker is the author of Under the Mask of Philanthropy (2017).