The City View with Bill Browder January 31, 2021 City A.M. Acting Editor Andy Silvester talks to investment fund manager turned global human rights campaigner Bill Browder. Bill has been a thorn in Vladimir Putin’s side ever since his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was murdered in Russian custody after an attempt to expose widespread tax fraud. He talks to Andy about the protests in Russia [...]
Bill Browder: Navalny has sparked something – the West shouldn’t stand by January 31, 2021 Once the largest foreign investor in Russia through his Hermitage Fund, Bill Browder is now a global campaigner focussing the world’s attention on Vladimir Putin. His efforts have seen so-called ‘Magnitsky Acts’ placed on the statute book across the world, named after Browder’s former lawyer – who, most agree, was murdered in Russian custody as [...]
Cryptoshonk! What a time to be alive! January 29, 2021 What a time to be alive used to be a euphoric and jubilant phrase that celebrated life and the world we lived in. Under lockdown, the phrase is now used ironically as that celebrated world feels more like an Old and Lost World. Another Eden destroyed and lost. Covid is the New Flood. As usual, [...]
The Ring couldn’t rule: Why the LME is smart to go digital January 28, 2021 The London Metals Exchange (LME) proposal to shut its infamous ring may well have been accelerated by the pandemic, but the truth is that the end has been nigh for in-person commodities trading for sometime. As the tectonic plates of the trading world have shifted to the computer screen in equity markets, metals traders have [...]
Top official warns of ‘disturbing’ amount of Russian money laundering in UK January 25, 2021 One of the UK’s top officials in monitoring economic crime has today warned about the “disturbing” prevalence of Russian money laundering in London, claiming up to half of all money laundered from the country is done through the UK. Graeme Biggar, director general of the National Economic Crime Centre, told MPs today that it was [...]
Alexei Navalny: Police arrest 1,500 amid protests over jailing of Putin critic January 23, 2021 More than 1,500 people have been arrested across Russia as protesters staged rallies in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. The Putin critic called on his supporters to protest after being arrested last weekend when he returned to Moscow for the first time since being poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent. Tens of thousands [...]
Navalny aide sent to prison to stifle tomorrow’s mass protests in Russia January 22, 2021 The press secretary for poisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been sentenced to nine days in prison today following a police roundup of several opposition aides. Navalny aide Kira Yarmysh tweeted during her arrest today, saying that police threatened to break down her door while detaining her. Continuing to tweet from custody, she said [...]
EU Parliament calls for halt to Nord Stream 2 construction after Navalny arrest January 21, 2021 EU lawmakers are currently voting on a resolution that would stop the completion of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in response to the Kremlin’s arrest of Alexei Navalny. It is expected that the resolution, which calls on the bloc to review its cooperation with Russia in light of Navalny’s arrest, will pass. “The European [...]
Alexei Navalny calls for UK sanctions against Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich January 19, 2021 Detained Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has called for the UK to sanction Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and former Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov if he is not released from prison. Navalny’s close associate Vladimir Ashurkov said today that Navalny had written up a list of eight Russian oligarchs that “he felt should be sanctioned if [...]
The vaccine challenge facing emerging markets January 18, 2021 News that effective vaccines against Covid-19 are slowly being rolled out in some parts of the world has brought the end of the corona crisis into view and buoyed investor sentiment. But we are not yet out of the woods, particularly in emerging markets (EM) where some countries are suffering renewed outbreaks of the virus. [...]