London Rules; Russians and Russian money are welcome in Britain, subject to British laws

The Times

In late 1991 Russia transformed itself from a country where entrepreneurs were outlaws to one of entrepreneurs without laws. A new statute book was written, but two decades on its enforcement is a joke — or would be if the spillover effect of Russian lawlessness were not so serious.

The death of Alexander Perepilichnyy on a Surrey cul-de-sac outside his rented mansion may turn out to have been from purely natural causes; a fit 44-year-old cut down in his prime by an unexpected heart attack, for instance. Alternatively, it may be linked to his apparent role as a supergrass in a long-running Swiss investigation of money-laundering and tax fraud by a ruthless and extremely well-connected Moscow-based crime syndicate known as the Klyuev Group.

In Russia, the odds against such a death being properly investigated would be vanishingly high. At least in Britain Mr Perepilichnyy’s next of kin will be able to request the results of his post mortem and find out what other tests are being carried out to learn the cause of death. But they may not be enough to close the case.

British police and security officials have so far shown little interest in the evidence Mr Perepilichnyy is said to have been providing to the Swiss; nor in the Klyuev Group’s alleged involvement in the death of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer hired by a well-known British investor to investigate a £140 million tax fraud in Moscow in 2007.

Not so the United States Congress. Earlier this month, after years of lobbying by William Browder, the British chief executive of Hermitage Capital Management, the House of Representatives passed a Bill to freeze the assets of Klyuev Group members and stop them travelling to America. Dominic Raab, the Conservative MP, has tabled a House of Commons motion seeking similar measures by the British Government.

There is no immediate prospect of sanctions against the senior Russian officials accused in this case. But there is no doubt, either, of Mr Magnitsky’s bravery; nor of the symbolism of his death as an example of the brutish corruption that still plagues Russia — and imposes a heavy discount on most of its stocks — 12 years after Vladimir Putin promised a “dictatorship of the law”.

Yesterday Russia’s second-biggest mobile phone group, MegaFon, launched an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange, cementing the place in British public life of the country’s second-richest person, Alisher Usmanov.

London has the know-how for such difficult flotations, and must use it. It has courts of arbitration favoured by Roman Abramovich and Boris Berezovsky, and they are welcome there — just as Mr Abramovich’s millions are welcome at Stamford Bridge and Mr Usmanov’s at Arsenal. But in extending such welcomes, Britain must be worldly. The survivors of the former Soviet Union’s wild introduction to capitalism flatter London with their presence and investments, but they maintain relationships with the Kremlin and with each other that will remain opaque to even the sharpest Western observers, probably for ever.

As with Alexander Litvinenko, poisoned with polonium six years ago, so with Mr Perepilichnyy: British due process must follow the evidence, however awkward diplomatically. The goal of a British-Russian relationship based on truth is worth the shoe leather. займ на карту unshaven girls zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-cash-advances.php срочный займ на карту