Parliamentary investigation

A parliamentary inquiry two years ago stated that England welcomes Russian oligarchs with open arms, and that Russian influence is the “new normal” in the UK. But now the British government is trying to suppress that elite. “A lot of these people are there part-time. So you have a house in Moscow, in the south of France, and a house in London. They also send their relatives there if necessary. So that they have a base in case things go wrong in Russia.” Cooper says.

According to him, these people belong to different circles. “You have people at the top, and below that there are people who belong to Putin’s clique, like the presenter on state television, who also owns an expensive apartment there.”

keep it as a friend

Often they want to secure their money, because they do not trust Putin. “These are people who want to be a good friend of Putin, but also see that things are not going well with the other oligarchs. So they park their money in London, through all kinds of opaque companies. How much money, it is really uncountable. “

What are these Russians doing with their property now? “Most of them haven’t been sanctioned yet,” Cooper said. “But what they’re trying to do is sell fast, before sanctions come in. Because if your house is sanctioned, you can’t sell it. They’re trying to get out of there fast because they’re afraid the British will finally wake up.”