Many ex-officials in European countries are engaged in business, while some – in promoting Russian political interests. Corruption is one of the key elements of Russia’s exports to European countries.
Corruption is the main instrument of Russia’s influence on the West. It’s this influence that led to the emergence of the term “strategic corruption”, says the executive director of Anticorruption Action Centre, Daria Kalenyuk, as per Liga.net.
According to her, Russia has honed its strategic corruption on the example of Ukraine, when due to the weakness of internal institutions, Kremlin agents were launched here and bought the necessary solutions.
Former French Prime Minister Francois Fillon joined the board of directors at the Russian company Zarubezhneft in late June this year. Fillon is a career politician: at the age of 22 he started off as an aide to a lawmaker and ended as a prime minister during Nicolas Sarkozy’s presidency. Fillon’s term as head of government coincided with Putin’s symbolic prime ministerial term. French politicians were outraged by their prime minister’s behavior, labeling his actions a manifestation of the “Depardieu syndrome” – seeking help from Putin in hopes of upping own profile.
Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is one of Putin’s most odious and scandalous cronies in Europe. He is constantly pushing the Kremlin’s line in all spheres, from business to politics. Like Fillon, he is a career politician who began his path at the age of 19. At the dusk of his term, Gazprom gave Chancellor Schroeder a position at Nord Stream AG, offering a hefty check. Not surprisingly, while remaining Putin’s friend and a joint venture chief, Schroeder wasn’t too happy to see Russia get sanctioned for its occupation of Crimea and aggression against Ukraine.
Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneisl is a minor, but high-profile politician. The whole world probably remembers her infamous dance stunt with Putin at her wedding in the summer of 2018. Kneisl’s pro-Russian position paid off in March 2021 when Russian authorities tapped her to the post in the board of directors at Rosneft. She was hired in early June.
It would be a mistake to suggest that Putin’s closest friend in Germany is Schroeder. The inconspicuous Matthias Warnig is one of the Russian president’s closest European allies, with whom he had built a relationship long before he met Schroeder. Warnig was a spy, just like Putin. He joined the Stasi (GDR) in 1974. In 2003, Warnig became a member of the supervisory board at Bank of Russia (or “Putin’s Friends Bank” as they call it); in 2006 he took up the position of a Managing Director at Nord-Stream AG, where he worked with Schroeder; a year later he joined the supervisory board at the VTB bank; and in 2011 he was elected to the board of directors in Transneft and Rosneft.
Christian Kern is an experienced Austrian manager who headed the government for 12 months before moving to work in Russia. Kern’s career has varied: he once was a journalist, then press secretary for the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SDPA), and a marketer for an energy company. In 2018, he announced his withdrawal from politics toward the private sector. In the summer of 2019, he joined the board of directors at Russian Railways.
Wolfgang Schuessel is one of the biggest European trophies of Russian business. In 1989, Schuessel became Austria’s Economy Minister before taking helm of one of the parties six years later and taking up the two positions at once: Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister. Over time, Schuessel became head of the Austrian government and remained chancellor until 2007. In 2014, Shuessel opposed anti-Russian sanctions, claiming restrictive measures are “always a sign of failure”, adding that Austria needs to seek “better understanding”. As a result, Schuessel’s career led him to a job in Russia: from 2018 to 2019 he was a member of the board of directors at MTS. And in 2019 he joined the board of directors at the Lukoil oil giant, where he continues to work today.
Russian companies also hire much lower-scale politicians. For example, Wolfgang Clement is hardly known beyond Germany, although he well proved to be useful to the Kremlin. The Nord Stream project is believed to have been probably implemented with Clement’s support. The ex-minister followed in Schroeder’s footsteps and joined Russia’s Energy Consulting as deputy chairman of the board.
Yves Thibault De Silguy is a French seasoned politician and diplomat. He worked with the French Foreign Ministry, the European Commission Representation and the Embassy in Washington. He also served as an adviser to Prime Ministers Jacques Chirac and Edouard Balladur. Sometimes he combined civil service and business. For example, as an adviser to the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he became a member of the supervisory board at Russia’s VTB bank. He remains in this position today.
Alain Julliet is another big “catch” of Putin. He spent his entire life in intelligence and business, and graduated in the service of propaganda. Julliet worked for several years in a French secret military unit, which was responsible for planning and conducting covert operations. Although Julliet has no personal relationship with Putin that the general public is aware of, he has repeatedly voiced his pro-Russian views. In February 2020, RT France announced the launch of a geopolitical TV show with Julliet as its host. The show called “Le Source” comes out twice a month: the former head of French intelligence reflects on the developments in the world of diplomacy, conflict, terrorism, security, and intelligence. While promoting pro-Russian narratives about historical truth and the political crisis in the West.
