I myself know from close hearsay a fellow who happily traded grain until 2022 when he left for US with $50m of a bank's money in his pocket. A few people in the bank lost their jobs as a result. Those people would certainly welcome that critic back.
> After Pestrikov had spent almost two years on the wanted list, the CCF ruled that his case was predominantly political. He showed us CCF documents that said the information Russia had provided was "generic and formulaic" and there had been an "inadequate explanation" of the alleged crime. Interpol cancelled the request for Pestrikov's detention.
The way that he is described by the BBC as a businessman (not an oligarch) also suggests that he was taken off the list for political reasons. London collects activist Russian oligarchs the same way Washington collects activist ex-Iranian monarchy.
The Bill Browder case was clear abuse. In case anyone is looking for a single precedent of this.
And just for example, Navalny was put in prison for alleged and proven in a so called "Russian court of law" financial/commercial crimes.
>He was perfectly fine living in Putin's Russia until 2022
That suggests that Russia was for 20+ years fine with whatever financial crimes this guy had been committing as long as he played ball (and like many there continue to commit while staying loyal to the regime), and is really using these crimes to get him now for political motives. (and, yes, looking at current Russian opposition you can find a bunch of guys who is rich and most probably made their money in Russia not in completely legal way, and i honestly don't have respect for them, yet it is clear that the regime is going after them purely for their opposition)
>and prosecutors also found that the privatization in the 90s was illegal
there has been whole wave of such findings recently (and Supreme Court specifically removed statute of limitations here). As result the privatization is usually nullified, the property gets confiscated by the government, and later it ends up in the hands of Putin's friends, family, loyalists. It is a huge redistribution of assets under the guise of "Russian law"
There are several in my area of London who live in opulent mansions (one looks very Trump-like) bought with soviet privatization wealth.
Some of their houses: https://www.mylondon.news/news/property/london-mansions-owne...
a good example is the BTCe crypto exchange founder
https://www.reuters.com/world/austrian-ex-intelligence-accus...
Wait a sec, isn't the Austrian intelligence officer to blame here for doing the spying on Russia's behalf?
And Austrian politics in general have historically been very pro-Russia since the cold war, with Putin visiting the wedding of Austrian officials, and Austrian politicians getting jobs at Russian oil and gas companies after the end of their mandates. Also, Austrian Raiffeisen bank still has operations in Russia.
So maybe Austria could have some introspection and drain the swamp of Russian assets instead of throwing all the blame on Russia as it has no agency in its internal politics and business tie with Russia.
Of course, but I'd argue russia trying to break into apartments of journalists and even planning to obduct/kill them is also morally not great
It was the worst year for journalist killings in a long time.
And by swastika if you're referring to your infamous painter's symbol, it was actually a Hakenkreuz which that fellow saw in the Lambach Abbey. Nothing to do with Hindus or Buddhists.
> The data is not complete…
Institutions were meant to extend balance beyond great powers, to smaller states with no leverage.
So if those institutions are weakened or weaponized, who exactly benefits, and how does that improve the overall condition of humanity?
Decentralized systems still concentrate power, they just do it informally, locally, without visibility or accountability.
Eliminating institutions does not remove the nexus of power, it just relocates it to actors with fewer constraints and less scrutiny.
If winners are always cheaters who did not get caught, then weakening shared rules only selects for better cheaters, not better outcomes. At least institutions create friction, records, and points of contestation. Without them, power does not disappear, it simply becomes cruder and harder to challenge.
The claim that centralization is uniquely corrupt assumes fragmentation produces virtue.
History suggests it mostly produces unchecked local coercion and chaos, not justice.
But we see how exactly the opposite has happened, and Russia is giving up its sovereignty in favor of China.
It doesn't say how he found out, I would imagine he's regularly checking online, he was stopped at a control check somewhere?
Seems to me that most people wouldn't have a clue until they're being arrested. But again another scummy behaviour from the Russian government.
It might as well just be prudent to ignore their requests altogether. Boy who cried wolf.
Edit : it did indeed say how. I missed it.
> After he fled to France, he was worried that the Kremlin might try to target him there, so he contacted Interpol
Such services are frequently advertised on forums like rutor
https://www.interpol.int/en/How-we-work/Notices/Red-Notices/...
> Extracts of Red Notices are published at the request of the member country concerned and where the public’s help may be needed to locate an individual or if the individual may pose a threat to public safety.
So, no, only a minority of them are made public.