None of the Russian “oligarchs” recently sanctioned by the West appears to have influence, much less control, over President Vladimir Putin. Western leaders might gain more by making them – and Anatoly Chubais, their former patron – comfortable enough to share whatever they may know about Putin’s wealth.
NEW YORK – Russian climate envoy Anatoly Chubais’s decision last week to resign from the government and leave Russia may turn out to be highly significant. By reopening a window on recent Russian history, Chubais’s exit could bring some order to the West’s “KleptoCapture” strategy, which aims to freeze the assets of about a dozen Russian “oligarchs” described as “appendages of Putin’s regime.” But it could potentially do much more.
NEW YORK – Russian climate envoy Anatoly Chubais’s decision last week to resign from the government and leave Russia may turn out to be highly significant. By reopening a window on recent Russian history, Chubais’s exit could bring some order to the West’s “KleptoCapture” strategy, which aims to freeze the assets of about a dozen Russian “oligarchs” described as “appendages of Putin’s regime.” But it could potentially do much more.