Assisting Russian capital risks ruining a career in the West: a new reality for intermediaries

The enforcement of strict national security laws has created an extremely hostile environment in the West for any local consultants, lawyers and intermediaries helping Russian investors to establish a foothold in Europe. The publication ‘RBC-Ukraine’ draws attention to this significant shift.

To illustrate this trend, the authors cite the consequences of a deal that fell through involving the family of Russian oil trader Yuri Shamara in the county of Cumbria. The deal was brokered on the British side by the well-known golf coach Nick Taylor – the son of the former president of the Grange-over-Sands Golf Club, who had previously headed up Roman Abramovich’s elite Russian golf club ‘Skolkovo’ and the sanctioned Raevo Golf near Moscow. Following intervention by MI6 and the UK Ministry of Defence, the intermediary himself came under heavy pressure and the scrutiny of counter-intelligence.

"The NSIA has created a toxic environment for any Western intermediaries: facilitating the purchase of sensitive assets by Russian capital now leads to career ruin and investigations by the security services," the article emphasises.

At the same time, the publication points out that putting pressure on intermediaries is no substitute for direct sanctions against the clients themselves: unless figures such as Yuri Shamara are blacklisted by the EU, the US and the UK, Russian shadow capital will continue to seek out new advisers to purchase strategic assets in Europe.