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| Ibid. 327 Ibid. 328 Ibid.; US. Department of the Treasury, Treasury Sanctions Russian Officials, Members of the Russian Leadership’s Inner Circle, and an Entity for Involvement in the Situation in Ukraine Mar. 20, 2014. Alec Luhn & Luke Harding, Spain Issues Arrest Warrants for Russian Officials Close to Putin The Guardian, May 4, 2016. From the Kremlin, Putin has allegedly continued to use Russian- based organized crime groups to pursue his interests both at home and abroad, including to smuggle arms, assassinate political opponents, earn black cash for off-the-books operations, conduct cyberattacks, and support separatist movements in Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine. 323 Euan Grant, an expert in transnational crime, told The Moscow Times that Russians linked to organized crime groups have formed a large quasi-intelligence agency for the Kremlin, acting as political Trojan horses that use their money to undermine morale, compromise officials and weaken Western re- solve.’’ 324 In 2016, a judge investigating Russian mafia operations in Spain issued international arrest warrants for several current and former Russian government officials with alleged connections to a money laundering operation run by a Russia-based crime group in Spain. Spanish prosecutors also alleged that a senior member of the Duma, Vladislav Reznik, helped the head of the Russian crime syndicate in Spain, Gennady Petrov, get his allies into senior positions in the Russian government in exchange for assets in Spain. 325 Spanish investigators tapping Petrov’s phones heard him speak with a deputy prime minister and five other cabinet ministers, as well as various legislators, including Reznik, a founder and vice president of Putin’s United Russia party and head of the Dumas finance committee. 326 Reznik and Petrov regularly socialized and did business together, sharing a private jet and the same secretary, lawyer, and financial adviser in Spain. 327 Reznik was also a member of the board of directors of Bank Rossiya, which fell under US. sanctions in 2014 for its role in Ukraine and was described by the US. Treasury Department as the personal bank for senior officials of the Russian Federation.’’ 328 And from 1998-99, Petrov was reportedly a co-owner of Bank Rossiya, along with several men belonging to Putin’s Ozero cooperative of dacha owners (the Panama Papers also revealed that Bank Rossiya transferred at least $1 billion to Putin’s friend, the musician Sergei Roldugin). 329 There are also multiple historical links between Putin and Petrov’s gang in St. Petersburg. The gang was then led by Vladimir Barsukov and started out in St. Petersburg in the early s, the same time that Putin served as the city’s deputy mayor. In addition to illicit activities, the gang was allegedly involved in real estate, banking, and energy, including the Petersburg Fuel Company (PTK), which, thanks to a decision involving Putin, won a contract VerDate Mar 15 2010 04:06 Jan 09, 2018 Jkt PO 00000 Frm 00061 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6601 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\COMMITTEE PRINT 2018\HENRY\JAN. 9 REPORT FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER 56 Sebastian Rotella, A Gangster Place in the Sun How Spain’s Fight Against the Mob revealed Russian Power Networks ProPublica, Nov. 10, 2017. Mark Hosenball, A Stain on Mr. Clean Newsweek, Sept. 2, 2001. 332 Ibid. 333 Ibid.; United Kingdom House of Commons, The Litvinenko Inquiry Report into the Death of Alexander Litvinenko, at 112 (Mar. 2015). Damien Sharkov, ‘‘ Putin Involved in Drug Smuggling Ring Says Ex-KGB Officer News- week, Mar. 13, 2015. Mark Galeotti, Crimintern: How the Kremlin Uses Russia’s Criminal Networks in Europe, European Council on Foreign Relations, at 1 (Apr. 2017). 336 Download 0.63 Mb. Share with your friends:
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