The new list of people targeted by European Union sanctions looks very strange. There was a lot of talk, and then suddenly—there in the list is Mikhail Degtyaryov from the LDPR (Liberal Democratic Party of Russia), whom I met during the mayoral election campaign.
So they found themselves a great villain—the butcher of Ukraine. Misha is just an oddball who goes around spouting absolutely insane nonsense in the hope that the media will quote him. Everybody understands that. Why sanction him? What is that supposed to change?
Take Malofeev, for example—they didn’t include him, even though this (in my personal opinion) major corrupt figure holds assets abroad (VTB sued him in London) and quite clearly has far more to do with what is happening. No one understands why he is still not on the list. The only explanation is that he must be some kind of CIA or MI6 spy.
The whole thing with these security-service bosses is not especially convincing either.
Fradkov, Patrushev, Bortnikov. If they are being sanctioned simply as a political gesture with no real consequences, fine, that makes sense. But if the point of sanctions is to put real pressure on the mafia that has seized power—and that is exactly what is being claimed—then their businessman sons should be included too.
How does the scheme work? Obviously Fradkov has no assets abroad. Obviously when he travels there, he is surrounded by a hundred SVR officers and a hundred CIA agents. That is exactly why they use this feudal-criminal setup: they puff themselves up and play the role of patriotic generals, while their sons—having displayed remarkable entrepreneurial talent from an early age—end up running state banks and state corporations.
That is how they end up with official million-dollar salaries, unofficial billions, offshore companies, bank accounts, and so on.
Just look for yourselves: Pyotr Fradkov — the Russian export insurance agency (a wholly owned subsidiary of VEB)
Pavel Fradkov — has already “worked his way up” to deputy minister. And not just any ministry, but the Federal Agency for State Property Management!
Denis Bortnikov — a member of VTB’s management board.
Dmitry Patrushev — chairman of the management board of Rosselkhozbank (Russian Agricultural Bank).
And Andrei Patrushev (I can’t find a photo of him) is a vice president of a Gazprom subsidiary.
There they are, Russia’s business elite. Every last one of them, as if handpicked: into state banks at 23, vice presidents by 25. They are doing just fine.
This is where sanctions should hit. This whole vermin-infested nest. Because our government is doing all this to preserve this kind of mafioso feudalism. Approval ratings are falling? No problem, we’ll start a war—the main thing is to make sure the seats under us and our dear sons do not start wobbling.
We’ll see—maybe they still will be hit—but so far it does not look like it, and the sons are calmly cruising around on their yachts and eating crème brûlée on the streets of European cities, with no fear whatsoever that they will be adopted and killed by local gay people, who, judging by reports in the media controlled by their fathers, do nothing else.