PM’S WAR ON PUTIN ‘MCMAFIA’ MILLIONS
May to target Russian dirty money as escalating crisis sees Kremlin expel 23 UK diplomats
THERESA MAY is to launch a major crackdown on the ‘dirty money’ that Vladimir Putin’s McMafia-style cronies have sheltered in London.
In a dramatic escalation of the fierce diplomatic war with Moscow, the Prime Minister is to target
the vast wealth that crooked oligarchs have syphoned out of Russia and into property and shares in the UK. Her response could lead to: Emergency laws making it easier to seize the ill-gotten British assets of Russians based in Russia;
Visa curbs banning the Russian President’s ‘gangster-like’ allies making trips to the UK;
A new drive to force suspected Russian gangsters in the UK to account for ‘unexplained wealth’.
Mrs May will discuss a range of new measures with Ministers and intelligence chiefs at a meeting of the National Security Council later this week.
The blitz against Putin’s billionaire cronies comes after the tit-fortat expulsion of British diplomats from Moscow heightened tensions following the nerve agent attack on former spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury. And it is sure to lead to comparisons to the recent BBC1 thriller McMafia, about Russian and international gangsters.
A security expert said: ‘We have to hit Putin where it hurts. That means going after the billions stashed away in the City of London in businesses, banks, mansions and limousines. And we need to stop his cronies using London for their playboy lifestyle. Most of it comes from money Putin and his mob have stolen from their own people.’
Downing Street refused to give details of the planned crackdown, but a No10 insider said: ‘We have always been at the forefront of preventing illicit international financial activities.’
Mrs May pledged new action after the Russian President responded to the expulsion of 23 Russian spies from London by expelling the same number of British diplomats from Moscow.
He also announced the closure of the British consulate in St Petersburg and the Moscow office of the British Council, which promotes cultural links.
Britain’s Ambassador to Moscow, Laurie Bristow, was told the news in a tense 11-minute meeting at the Foreign Ministry yesterday, after which he said: ‘We will always do what is necessary to defend ourselves, our allies and our values against an attack of this sort.’
Less than an hour after defiant Mrs May told cheering Tory activists that she planned new steps, Mr Putin issued a threat to the ‘sabre-rattling’ Prime Minister. He hit back via his Ambassador and close ally in London, Alexander Yakovenko. He told The Mail on Sunday Mrs May wanted a ‘short, victorious war to score points at home’ – but warned: ‘It’s not going to be like that. Russia has strategic patience.’
He also threatened that ‘in case of further unfriendly actions against Russia, the Russian side reserves the right to take further retaliatory measures’ and said that the dispute was ‘escalating dangerously out of proportion… restraint is needed, and cooler heads’.
He insisted, however, that Russia would not cut off energy supplies to the UK. ‘Russia is a reliable supplier,’ he added. ‘It has never broken its contracts.’
Mr Yakovenko insisted that the Russian state had neither the ‘motive nor the means’ to commit the poisoning and told Britain: ‘Our message is: investigate before you accuse. Sabrerattling does not solve major challenges like Brexit.’
He also claimed that the Government’s notorious ‘dodgy dossier’, justifying the 2003 Iraq War, showed UK claims could not be trusted. Britain was more of a ‘rogue state’ than Russia, he added. ‘Our record is cleaner than Britain’s. We didn’t invade Iraq.’
And when asked what he said to those who argued that Putin was acting like a gangster, he said: ‘Gangster is not a Russian word… we have a different dictionary.’
Mr Yakovenko, Moscow’s Ambassador to the UK since 2011, claimed Britain was trying to use the dispute to ‘undermine’ the Russian President and wreck this summer’s World Cup in Russia.
The Ambassador’s comments came after Mrs May told the Tory Spring Forum in London: ‘We will never tolerate a threat to the life of British citizens and others on British soil from the Russian Government.’
She added that Russia’s attempted murder of the Skripals was ‘the antithesis of the liberal and democratic values that define Britain’.
She indicated she would consult US President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and other key allies and ‘consider our next steps’.
And she explained that Russia’s reprisals against Britain ‘did not change the facts of the matter – the attempted assassination of two people on British soil, for which there is no alternative conclusion other than that the Russian state was culpable’ and therefore in ‘flagrant breach’ of international law.
Mrs May made it clear that any curbs on Russians in the UK would be targeted at Putin’s allies – not Russians who had fled his dictatorial rule and had made a legitimate new life in the UK.
‘Those who abide by our laws and make a contribution to our society will always be welcome,’ she said. ‘But we will never tolerate a threat to the life of British citizens and others on British soil from the Russian Government.’
She stressed she had no intention of backing down. And she delivered a Churchillian-style lecture aimed at Putin on her determination to stand up for Britain’s values of freedom and democracy: ‘They don’t come about by accident, and they are certainly not the default
‘We must stop playboy lifestyle of his cronies’
‘We will never tolerate Russian threats on UK soil’
setting for any society. They must always be defended.’
Mrs May also delivered a withering put-down to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has been accused of avoiding criticising Russia.
She pointedly praised First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Labour’s Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones for their ‘strong support’, while making no reference to Mr Corbyn.
Challenged over claims that Putin had ordered the assassination to boost his standing in the run-up to today’s Russian election, Mr Yakovenko said: ‘So far they have only boosted the popularity of Mrs May. The Government has seized the opportunity to present itself as robust and competent.’
He also said Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson had snubbed a Russian request to hold discussions on cyber-security, including ‘what constitutes aggression, how to respond to incidents… no reply so far’.
And in a speech on Friday to embassy staff, including the 23 expelled diplomats, he downplayed Britain’s importance on the global stage, saying: ‘The world is much bigger than the United Kingdom.’
The Mail on Sunday has learned that Mr Yakovenko made a ‘provocative’ speech to MPs about the power of Russia’s nuclear weapons just hours after the attack on the Skripals. Witnesses say he boasted of the power of his country’s weapons arsenal after inviting MPs and Foreign Office representatives to the Russian Embassy two weeks ago. A few hours later, news emerged of the Salisbury attack.
The timing led to speculation that Mr Yakovenko’s remarks were further evidence that the assassination attempt was part of a wider Russian bid to provoke Britain.
One MP said: ‘We were expecting a general briefing. Instead we got a provocative speech about Russia’s firepower. It was disturbing.
‘With hindsight, you can’t help wondering if he did it because he knew the Skripal row was about to erupt and wanted to get his retaliation in first.’
Envoy’s ‘disturbing’ message to MPs
MOSCOW’S expulsions of British diplomats were entirely predictable. The spiteful closure of the British Council’s operations in Russia, a window into the free world long resented by the Kremlin, was also probably inevitable.
We knew such things would happen when we expelled Russian envoys from London. They all lie within the range of normal diplomacy when nations become genuinely angry with each other.
These events were more or less certain once it became clear that the only likely culprit for the Salisbury poisonings was the Russian state. They are necessary formalities in such circumstances.
Regrettably, they probably did not much surprise or dismay the Russian government. In purely practical terms, they may have harmed us more than they harmed it. Russia has easy access to our open society. We need a well staffed embassy to have any idea of what is going on in an increasingly closed and impenetrable Russia, with its largely state-controlled media.
Which is why this cannot and must not be the end of things. Britain must now move on to take actions which will make President Putin regret what has happened, and resolve not to try it here again.
BUT we do not necessarily need to shout about what we now do. Of course we must continue to impress on our close allies that an injury to one free society is an injury to all. We need, over the next few weeks, to bring our friends round to a much more severe condemnation of the Salisbury outrages.
It is bad enough that lawless violence is practised by the state inside Russia. It is intolerable that it should dare to use such methods on the soil of any democratic nation.
But at the same time as we pursue this, there is another weapon we may use. The Mail on Sunday reveals today that we can soon expect action to investigate unexplained Russian money in London.
Many of its owners have links to the Putin Kremlin. If they feel pain, Mr Putin will feel pain. There is no need for grandiose announcements or elaborate threats. The normal lawful authorities have considerable powers which they can use to investigate and regulate this money, and they should do so.
IT IS sometimes argued that Russian money is too valuable to London for us to take any serious action of this kind. But that money is here because wealthy Russians actively like to keep it here. They like our fair law courts and our orderly streets, so unlike the corrupt and unpredictable conditions in their own country.
Well, from now on, they must expect to pay a higher price in scrutiny and supervision than before. And if they do not like it, then they will know very well where to complain. It is their government, not ours, that has brought about the new hostility between our countries.
Britain may not have the same ugly tradition of merciless cruelty that still haunts Russia, and we are fortunate that we do not. But that does not mean that we are a soft touch, or that we lack cunning and subtlety when faced with such grotesque, criminal wickedness.