Trump slaps sanctions on Mandelson’s oligarch pal
DONALD Trump yesterday imposed sanctions on a Russian oligarch who entertained Labour grandee Lord Mandelson and ex-chancellor George Osborne on his £80million yacht.
Metals magnate Oleg Deripaska, said to be a member of President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, hosted the pair on his yacht in Corfu in 2008.
He was among 38 Russian individuals and entities hit with new American sanctions yesterday.
Mr Deripaska, 50, who owns an 11-bedroom house in Belgravia, central London, was accused by the US of acting ‘directly or indirectly’ on behalf of the Russian government.
The US Treasury said the billionaire had been accused of money laundering, ‘threatening the lives of business rivals’ and illegally wire-tapping a government official.
Lord Mandeson and the Russian businessman were introduced by their mutual friend Nat Rothschild.
Their friendship was cemented over dinners in Moscow and was highlighted when the former Labour business
‘A brazen pattern of malign behaviour’
secretary holidayed on Mr Deripaska’s luxury yacht off Corfu. Sanctions were also imposed yesterday on Mr Deripaska’s company Rusal, one of the world’s biggest aluminium producers.
As EU trade commissioner in December 2005, Lord Mandelson provoked fury when he personally signed a decision to exempt Rusal from trade tariffs.
The US said the latest sanctions were aimed at punishing Russia for its recent ‘malign behaviour’, including its attempt to ‘subvert Western democracies’ and support of the Syrian regime.
A senior administration official said the nerve agent attack in Salisbury was included in the Russian action being punished, but it was not a direct cause of the sanctions.
Seven Russian tycoons were among those targeted, along with 17 officials and a dozen companies, the Treasury Department said.
US officials described it as part of a concerted effort to push back against Mr Putin. They said that since Mr Trump took office last year, the US had punished 189 Russian-related people and entities with sanctions. Rather than punishing Russia for one specific action, the new sanctions hit back at the Kremlin for its ‘ongoing and increasingly brazen pattern’ of bad behaviour.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said yesterday: ‘Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their government’s destabilising activities.’
The target list includes top-tier officials involved in Kremlin decision-making and heads of state-controlled business entities such as Alexei Miller, boss of the Gazprom natural gas giant.
Mr Deripaska is the controlling shareholder in the En+ Group, an energy company that has links to Russian military hardware production.
Mr Osborne became embroiled in the so-called ‘yachtgate’ controversy with Mr Deripaska when he was shadow chancellor. Mr Rothschild claimed that Mr Osborne had attempted to solicit a political donation from Mr Deripaska, an allegation both men denied.