Yesterday, the U.S. sanctions list was expanded in a rather curious way that is worth paying attention to. For the first time since the introduction of "personal" sanctions, a fundamentally new approach was used: sanctions are now being imposed on those who help people already named on earlier lists evade the restrictions placed on them.
"The following eight individuals and entities are associated with providing material support to Gennady Timchenko: Airfix Aviation, IPP Oil Products, Kai Paananen, Oleg Usachev, Pyotr Kolbin, Sey Petrochemicals, Southport Management Services Limited, Southeast Trading. Oy Langvik Capital Ltd. and Roman Rotenberg are associated with providing material support to Boris Rotenberg."
On Timchenko's "side," sanctions were imposed on five legal entities and three individuals. Oleg Usachev, Pyotr Kolbin, and the Finn Kai Paananen are all Timchenko's partners in a number of businesses. The latter heads SET Group, a group of companies that trades oil, gas, and bitumen with Russia (surprise!) and provides consulting services in that field.
Pyotr Kolbin is described as Timchenko's childhood friend. Kolbin owned a stake in Gunvor and in other Timchenko businesses.
As for the legal entities, the list includes a number of Finnish and offshore Cypriot companies that are also far from unrelated to Gennady Timchenko. These are the firms that have been helping Timchenko evade sanctions and providing him with material support.
Airfix Aviation is a private jet operator that used to be 99% owned by Timchenko. In April 2014, Timchenko stated that he had sold his stake.
IPP Oil Products is an oil trading company in which Timchenko also owned a stake. In April 2014, Timchenko stated that he had sold his stake in this company as well.
Set Petrochemicals Oy and Southeast Trading Oy are part of SET Group, which is headed by the above-mentioned Finn, Kai Paananen.
So what is the bottom line? The "sale" of Timchenko's key assets in March-April 2014 was, as one might have expected, fictitious. The U.S. Treasury has confirmed that Gennady Timchenko personally continues to derive material benefit from the assets he supposedly sold.
Timchenko should not have given that tearful interview to TASS about how much he is suffering because of the sanctions (he sold his business, he can no longer fly on a private jet, and so on). The only reliable piece of information in that interview appears to be that his Labrador, Romy, is Koni's daughter from her first litter.
As for the three partners he used to "get around" the sanctions, one can only pity them. These people knowingly manipulated the law in order to help Timchenko evade sanctions. Now not one of them will even be able to pay with a credit card in a restaurant.
A similar story applies to Boris Rotenberg, who also tried to "game the system," though not with the help of partners, but with the help of his son.
According to a U.S. Treasury press release, Roman Rotenberg helped his father "seriously and systematically" violate the sanctions regime imposed on him.
The same was done by the legal entity Langvik (which owns a hotel in Finland), which has also been added to the new sanctions list. This company used to belong to Boris and Arkady Rotenberg, but after both were hit with sanctions, the property was transferred to Roman.
It should be emphasized that Roman ended up on the list not because he is Boris Rotenberg's son. Sanctions do not, at least for now, extend on the basis of blood relation. This is confirmed by the fact that the list does not include Igor Arkadyevich Rotenberg, Roman's cousin, to whom his father and uncle transferred their construction business.
Roman ended up on the list because he actively helped break the law, apparently deciding that no one would notice or that he would get away with it. I think the Rotenbergs understood perfectly well what they were risking, given that Western banks had already refused to work with the Finnish hotel, and their Italian assets had been seized.
This round of sanctions carries a fundamentally new message. The U.S. Treasury has made it clear that cooperating with crooks is punished to the same extent as the crookedness itself. And if anyone was still willing to work with the Rotenbergs quietly after last year's sanctions, now people will absolutely keep their distance. The sanctions are worded in such a way that even paying Roman Rotenberg's restaurant bill with a Visa card could leave someone unable to use that card or travel to the United States for vacation for an indefinite and prolonged period.
And once again, for those who keep repeating, "I don't like the Rotenbergs and Timchenkos, but I can't call on foreign states to impose sanctions on my fellow citizens": in what sense are they your fellow citizens, exactly?
The only thing tying them to Russia is that they steal money here. Nothing else. Timchenko is a Finnish citizen. The younger Rotenberg has four passports, including British citizenship.
This whole gang of "Putin businessmen" are enemies of Russia. Whatever country imposes sanctions on them—whether the United States, Vanuatu, or Lesotho—it is all for the good and to the benefit of our country.