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Opinion
May 25, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 21
– a more symbolic move that is unlikely to have a significant impact.
Countering Russian aggression and closing the London “laundromat” are vital but distinct policy goals. The approach taken by the House of Com- mons Committee risks blurring this distinction. Their report examines three motivations for tar- geting Russian assets: to influence foreign Rus- sian policy; to counter money-laundering; and to respond to serious human rights abuses commit- ted in Russia. All of these may be good reasons in themselves, but they are separate policy issues. Like much of the discourse on sanctions, however, this report has a tendency to elide them, which risks producing confused and misdirected policy. The UK has a responsibility to clean up its finan- cial sector regardless of its relations with Russia. Likewise, using asset freezes to target those who commit human rights abuses is a laudable aim, but why limit it to Russia by framing it as a “Mag- nitsky List”?
Merging the issues of corruption and Russian for- eign policy also leads to unhelpful interpretations of the Russian leadership’s motivations and goals. It encourages the reductive view of Russia as a “Mafia State” or “kleptocracy,” whose actions are
ultimately shaped by the personal financial inter- ests of the leadership. Undoubtedly this is part of the story, but it does not explain why the Russian leadership decided to annex Crimea or initiate a war in eastern Ukraine. Indeed, a true Mafia State might have reasoned that such a war would be bad for business – even without sanctions, Rus- sia’s banks and businesses lost billions of invest- ments in the country.
Russia is neither the most corrupt country in
the world nor the worst human rights offender. Shaping money-laundering laws with only Rus- sia in mind simply encourages a view in Moscow that the UK’s human rights and anti-corruption agenda is simply a cover for other pursuing other goals. The House of Commons report itself notes the importance of tying financial sanctions to spe- cific Russian actions and providing a clear path for their removal if Russian policy should change. But by situating the debate over its Russia policy in a broader discussion of the UK’s anti-money laundering laws, the UK makes it harder to craft a clear Russia strategy and sends confusing signals to Moscow.
Alex Nice is a freelance analyst and former Manager at the Economist Intelligence Unit.