Sanktioner mot Ryssland.

The Trump administration is helping Vladimir Putin achieve a goal that’s eluded him for almost two decades—getting Russia’s billionaires to start repatriating some of their assets.

Relatively muted sanctions imposed during the Obama era over the conflict in Ukraine have only widened in scope and severity since Trump took office last year. The unpredictability of both the White House and Congress is forcing Russians to move money into state-run banks and rejig the offshore superstructure that’s sheltered fortunes here since communism’s collapse.

Tycoons and their executives say the rush to move assets beyond the reach of the U.S. Treasury started with the biggest enterprises in April, when Oleg Deripaska and Viktor Vekselberg and their companies lost billions within hours of being hit with the harshest penalties to date. Now the trend is accelerating, spurred by the threat of even more draconian measures over Russia’s alleged election meddling and nerve-agent attack on a turncoat spy in England.

The more recent US sanctions have cast a wider net that has perplexed its potential targets. “Before, they were going after people who really made money with the regime. Now we don’t get what it is for. If you think we can go to Putin and tell him what to do, you don’t understand Russia,” one oligarch told me this week. If anything, he continued, the western attack on oligarchs benefits the Kremlin. First, moves against Russian capital push them to repatriate cash stashed abroad in western companies — a goal Putin has struggled to achieve for years. Second, many in the elite increasingly see little reason to leave key businesses in private hands, especially if they require state support.

And now that several sanctioned oligarchs cannot pay off dollar loans to the state banks to whom they pledged major assets as collateral, they may not be tycoons for much longer.

“Putin loves this,” the oligarch said. “The regime is winning. The people like it because nobody likes oligarchs, and the state consolidates.”

Bring It Home

Trying to get the money back is one of Putin’s oldest and least successful projects. In 2002, he called on Russian businesspeople to repatriate their offshore investments to protect them from Western governments: “Otherwise you’ll be swallowing dust trying to get your property back through the courts.”

No one listened for years: Western economies loved the Russian cash. In 2014, as the U.S. and the European Union began imposing Ukraine-related sanctions on Russia, a record of $160 billion was moved out of Russia by the financial and non-financial sectors combined. The consensus among wealthy Russians was that as the country turned inward, the West would still welcome them and their money.

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Putin and the Russian government wouldn’t give up, however. Measures aimed at capital repatriation are arguably one of the most coherent of Russia’s current economic policies, along with fiscal and monetary stabilization. In 2015 and 2016, the government offered a financial amnesty to Russians who declared their foreign assets and allowed them to transfer the cash to Russia tax-free. Again, barely anyone took up the offer. According to First Deputy Prime Minister Anton Siluanov, a mere 7,200 declarations were filed. The government hasn’t reported how much money was repatriated, probably because it was negligible.

This year, the amnesty was revived with additional incentives. Up until March 2019, Russians closing their offshore companies can move their assets to Russia tax-free with a guarantee that their previous tax-avoidance schemes won’t be investigated. In addition, Russia has created two “special administrative districts” on islands close to Vladivostok and Kaliningrad, the country’s easternmost and westernmost big cities. These areas provide tax advantages to holding companies, something Russian business sought outside the country, setting up holdings in Ireland, the Netherlands, Cyprus and on various remote islands.

South Korea plans £26bn rail link with Russia in wake of North Korea summit

“Among the trilateral cooperation on the railway, electricity, and energy, connecting railways (between Russia and the two Koreas) appears to be most likely,” Mr Moon told Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, reported the Korea Herald.

“Through permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula, I’m hoping that the Trans-Siberian Railway will extend all the way to the southern port city of Busan, where I grew up. I hope you will join our efforts to open up new possibilities and common prosperity on the Korean Peninsula,” he told the parliament.

Egyptian president urges Russia to resume flights to resorts

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El-Sissi is on his fourth trip to Russia since taking office in 2014, and Putin visited Egypt in 2015 and 2017.

Egypt has signed deals to buy billions of dollars’ worth of Russian weapons, including fighter jets and assault helicopters. When Putin visited Cairo last December, officials signed a deal for Russia to build a nuclear power plant in Dabaa.

India And Russia Set Trade Target To $50 Billion By 2025

India attaches "highest importance" to its relations with Russia, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today said, as she conducted a comprehensive review of bilateral ties ahead of President Vladimir Putin's visit to New Delhi early next month.

Ms Swaraj, who is on her third visit to Russia in 11 months, held extensive discussions with Russian deputy prime minister Yuri Borisov on ways to boost cooperation in the areas of civil nuclear energy, banking, trade, pharmaceuticals, tourism and space.

"This partnership has strengthened over time and covers a vast agenda involving almost all sphere of human activity. India attaches the highest importance to its relations with Russia," Ms Swaraj said after co-chairing the 23rd India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific Technical and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC) with Mr Borisov.