Easier Said Than Done*

*Editor’s Note: On March 4, Russia enacted a law that criminalizes public opposition to, or independent news reporting about, the war in Ukraine. The law makes it a crime to call the war a “war” rather than a “special military operation” on social media or in a news article or broadcast. The law is understood to penalize any language that “discredits” Russia’s use of its military in Ukraine, calls for sanctions or protests Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It punishes anyone found to spread “false information” about the invasion with up to 15 years in prison.

President Joe Biden has called for a “hunt” on the riches of Russian oligarchs. In his State of the Union speech to Congress, he promised to create a special task force that would look for illegal Russian assets. The White House promises to work alongside its European allies. Consequently, oligarchs are facing serious issues in the Old World as well. Dmitry Drize, Ъ FM political columnist, believes that such initiatives will be extremely hard to pull off.

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The Department of Justice will create a special task force with its European allies to investigate the crimes of Russian oligarchs. No specifics, only dramatic language. The point of Biden’s announcement is that suspicious assets will be subject to more rigorous checks.

The U.S. will freeze any illegally acquired assets it finds, and make arrests. “We’re joining with European Allies to find and seize their yachts, their luxury apartments, their private jets. We’re coming for your ill-begotten gains,” Biden said.

As they say, easier said than done. This is such an interesting and deep topic that we could talk about it for several days straight without a break. It’s hard to specify numbers, but if we chose the 1990s as a starting point, we could be talking about $1 trillion or more in assets around the world. The FBI, the CIA and other official agencies have been relentlessly searching for “dirty money” since Soviet times.

Why would there be a problem with this? Well, first, it’s incredibly hard to prove legally that money is “dirty,” and second, if you dug deep enough, you could unearth many interesting facts about high-ranking Americans and Europeans themselves.

You could find information about who helped them win elections, strike deals, and so on. And, finally, an oligarch or even an outright thief or thug easily takes on the guise of victim and comes off as being a fighter against the regime. Try to tell them apart! It’s easier to rally public support when you have money than when you don’t.

That, however, was then. This is now or possibly now, since hope is not yet lost. So, the more chaos that engulfs Russia, the broader the shadow economy, and that, as we know, is a great opportunity for those wishing to shoot fish in a barrel. There are enough people like this still in the post-Soviet space.

Where will all this so-called, not entirely legal money from Russia end up? In the West, where else? This is the flip side of sanctions.

Russia doesn’t meet European standards even now, but its possible return to the turbulent 1990s is not just a Russian problem, keeping in mind Russia’s potential and size.

The West should assess the threat level. It will be forced to at least allocate additional resources to increase the amount of law enforcement and regulatory supervision. We’re moving toward a restructuring of the entire world, and we would really like to stop it somehow.