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American finance ministry special department to combat terrorism to look for Putin's money
4/19/2014 12:39:29 AM
The Kremlin super-thief may his lose his money hidden in Switzerland.
The London Times reported that Putin may soon lose all the money he has stolen from Russia that has been kept hidden in secret accounts in Switzerland.
US is ready for new, tougher sanctions against the Kremlin. According to American officials, a possibility involving freezing all the assets belonging to Putin personally has been considered.
During the talks in Geneva on the 17th of April, this Thursday, that argument was one of most compelling in the arsenal of sanctions that could be applied against the top echelon of the Kremlin, if all attempts to resolve the crisis in Ukraine reached an impasse.
EU foreign ministers previously stated that in case of failure of diplomatic measures (they are already known to have failed, Russian terrorists not only failed to release buildings previously captured by them, but started, on April 18, to capture the new ones - KC) they would expand the list of 33 high-ranking Russians who have been denied the right of entry into the European Union, and whose accounts in European banks had been frozen.
However, emphasizes The Times, the statement of the EU ministers contains a thinly veiled dissonance: different countries of Europe, as it seems, have not agreed when and with what degree of severity to implement the new, the third phase, of sanctions on Russia, if such a need arises.
America, being economically dependent on Russia to a much lesser extent than Europe, was ready to play against Putin "a personal card" if he decided to send troops to the eastern part of Ukraine.
It is assumed that Putin keeps in accounts in Swiss banks over $ 40 billion, which can be frozen.
Western intelligence agencies also suspect that Putin's personal wealth, consisting mainly of large stakes in Russian energy companies, is stored in Swiss bank accounts.
However, stress American sources, any assets that Putin could own, are not likely to bear his name.
Obviously, to attribute the ownership of these assets to the Russian leader will be a very difficult task, but the American finance ministry has special investigative powers.
The issue of Putin's personal assets has been discussed for several years from now. A Moscow analyst, Belkovsky, says that assets of the Kremlin super-thief consist of significant stakes in companies such as "Gazprom", "Surgutneftegas" and others.
In connection with the Russia's attack on Ukraine, American finance ministry has already frozen 38 accounts belonging to Russian and one to Crimean holders and imposed sanctions against two banks. Putin was not one of the holders. Sanctions against Putin would be a highly provocative step.
However, if this step is made, the search for assets of Putin will be led by the American finance ministry department dealing with counter-terrorism and financial intelligence.
The department may conduct investigations only of those assets which are kept in American banks. But anyone trying to transfer their funds to avoid sanctions,is to conduct these operations mainly in dollars.
At some stage, these transactions must pass throughAmerican banks, which allows the finance ministry to block them, even if foreign banks refuse to cooperate with the investigation.
As for the Swiss banks, America expects their "understanding."
"We can not act against the banks, but if an individual has been exposed to sanctions, we hope they will cooperate", say sources from the American finance ministry.
Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center
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