{"id":1409191,"date":"2022-03-30T07:46:12","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T11:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1409191"},"modified":"2022-03-30T07:46:16","modified_gmt":"2022-03-30T11:46:16","slug":"sanctioned-or-not-russians-abroad-find-their-money-is-toxic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sanctioned-or-not-russians-abroad-find-their-money-is-toxic\/","title":{"rendered":"Sanctioned or not, Russians abroad find their money is \u2018toxic\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsanctioned-or-not-russians-abroad-find-their-money-is-toxic%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1409191&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div>Tatiana Fokina and her husband Yevgeny Chichvarkin, high-profile Russian emigrants and businesspeople, are photographed in their Mayfair bar in London, Britain, March 23, 2022.  REUTERS\/Dylan Martinez<\/div>\n<p>March 30, 2022<\/p>\n<p>By Kirstin Ridley, Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi and Danielle Kaye<\/p>\n<p>LONDON\/ZURICH\/NEW YORK (Reuters) \u2013     Yevgeny Chichvarkin, a telecoms tycoon who fled Russia in 2008 and became a high-profile London restaurateur, has long been a vocal supporter of Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>Together with wife Tatiana Fokina, the multimillionaire says he has sent four truckloads of medical and protective equipment to Poland to help Ukrainians since the Russian invasion on Feb. 24. <\/p>\n<p>Chichvarkin, a burly man with a waxed moustache, said he drove the first load himself.<\/p>\n<p>But the 48-year-old entrepreneur, a long-time critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said he has just unexpectedly had one of his Swiss bank accounts frozen. He declined to say by which bank.<\/p>\n<p>Chichvarkin is one of a growing number of Russians living abroad who are finding issues accessing their money, even when they are not the direct targets of Western sanctions.<\/p>\n<p>Reuters interviews with nine Russians living overseas \u2013 as well as their wealth managers, lawyers, tax advisers, real estate and art brokers \u2013 suggest that Western sanctions meant to punish Putin\u2019s inner circle are also broadly ensnaring Russian passport holders.<\/p>\n<p>Four Russians living overseas with dual citizenship described banks freezing their accounts or payments in London, Zurich and Paris. One wealthy \u00e9migr\u00e9 in London said he had switched to cash to make purchases and was keeping a low profile. <\/p>\n<p>Two wealth advisors and a lawyer described applications for bank accounts by Russian clients being rejected. Banks said they were taking extra precautions with Russian money. And three brokers said some real estate and art deals had stalled.  <\/p>\n<p>A Canadian-American lawyer said his Russian clients were afraid to take international trips for fear of being stopped at customs as Western banks cast a wide blanket of suspicion on Russian money \u2013 even donations to charities. Dual passports no longer provide escape routes as they once did.   <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am dealing with Russians who can\u2019t get out of hotels, students who have no money because credit cards are valueless,\u201d said Bob Amsterdam, a founding partner of Washington- and London-based law firm Amsterdam &#038; Partners.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBanks \u2026 are refusing Russians bank accounts: they are closing their doors to Russians on nationality,\u201d said Amsterdam, who is based in London. \u201cLeading law firms in the City have closed their doors to Russians in terms of nationality.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u2018YOU NEED TO BE VERY QUIET\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Several lawyers representing wealthy Russians in Europe spoke about a pervasive climate of distrust. One tax and wealth planning expert, who asked not to be named due to a climate that she said penalized association with Russia, said that Russians were being scrutinized regardless of their place of residence or wealth. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cCurrently, everything that is Russian is toxic, which means that everyone is trying to be extremely, extremely careful in terms of what to do with Russian clients,\u201d said the lawyer, a dual Russian and British citizen, who runs a law firm in Zurich. <\/p>\n<p>Journalist Elena Servettaz, a dual citizen who has lived in France since 2005, said French bank Cr\u00e9dit Mutuel rejected a transfer of less than 1,000 euros to her account \u2014 money sent to her from London to support Ukrainian refugee aid efforts. <\/p>\n<p>When Servettaz called the bank, she was told the transaction had been flagged due to her Russian nationality. Servettaz received the money more than a week later.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s so unfair when you are part of the Russian opposition, you\u2019re helping Ukrainian refugees, and they\u2019re saying you\u2019re Russian so you can\u2019t have your money,\u201d Servettaz said. <\/p>\n<p>Cr\u00e9dit Mutuel said that European banks were obliged to apply \u201cthe greatest prudence\u201d in scrutinising transactions that could be affected by E.U. sanctions, and that additional checks required to ensure compliance could lead to delays, though it was doing its best to limit the effects on customers.<\/p>\n<p>A Cr\u00e9dit Mutuel spokesperson said in an emailed statement that the situation relating to Servetta \u201cwas quickly resolved once the customer sent us the requested information.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Reuters reported this month that European Union regulators have told some banks to scrutinise transactions by all Russian and Belarusian clients, including EU residents.<\/p>\n<p>Some wealth managers in Europe have sought to distance themselves from economic and political fallout. Switzerland\u2019s Julius Baer this month began blocking new business with Russian clients, two sources familiar with the operations said. UBS CEO Ralph Hamers said all Russian passport holders have effectively become semi-sanctioned.<\/p>\n<p>Julius Baer said it was not accepting new Russian clients with a Russian domicile but continued to serve existing Russian clients \u201cin compliance with all applicable laws, regulations or sanctions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Russian writer Grigory Chkhartishvili, who lives in London and whose last name is Georgian, successfully transferred a sum of money through British bank Barclays to support his Ukrainian refugee assistance charity, True Russia. <\/p>\n<p>But his wife, whose last name is Russian, was blocked by Barclays when attempting to send money to the same charity, he said. The bank requested a face-to-face interview with her. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy sum was ten times bigger, but it was no problem,\u201d Chkhartishvili said. \u201cIt shows the atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chkhartishvili said his wife, who declined to be interviewed by Reuters and asked for her name not to be made public, had told him she was able to transfer the money the next day after she called the bank and explained that she was helping Ukrainian refugees. <\/p>\n<p>Barclays did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>A wealthy Russian oil and banking magnate, who asked not to be identified so he could speak freely about his financial situation, said he felt he had become \u201ccollateral damage\u201d from Russia\u2019s invasion \u2013 which Moscow calls a \u201cspecial operation\u201d. <\/p>\n<p>Based in London for three decades, he said he still had businesses in Russia and was anxious about greater financial restrictions, despite not being on a sanctions list.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have some savings,\u201d he said, adding he was considering selling European assets. \u201cYou need to live out of cash \u2026 You need to be very quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2018RUSSOPHOBIA\u2019 <\/p>\n<p>In the basement of one of his newest ventures, The White Horse pub in London\u2019s upmarket Mayfair district, Chichvarkin says he is confident his lawyers will be able to unfreeze his Swiss bank account. <\/p>\n<p>It is the only account of his that has been frozen, he said. He believes that is because it is the only one he opened with a Russian passport. <\/p>\n<p>At the same time, Chichvarkin believes his and his wife\u2019s opposition to Putin and the war, as well as their vocal support for Ukraine, has helped protect their businesses from anti-Russian hostility by customers and the public, stirred by what Fokina calls \u201cPutin\u2019s war\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Still, their Michelin-starred restaurant Hide \u2013 which they own alongside wine boutique Hedonism Wines, where a bottle can cost 124,000 pounds ($163,500) \u2013 received a one-star Google review about two weeks into the war, Fokina\u2019s assistant said.<\/p>\n<p>The rare poor review, among 1,767 others that give the restaurant an average 4.5-star rating, said simply: \u201cRussian owned\u201d. It has since been removed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou read about people cancelling Tchaikovsky concerts, people vandalising Russian food shops,\u201d said Fokina. \u201cThis is London 2022. How did we get here so quickly?\u201d<\/p>\n<p> (Additional reporting by Valentina Za in Milan, Michele Kambas in Cyprus, Elizabeth Howcroft and Sinead Cruise in London; Writing by Silvia Aloisi; Editing by Leela de Kretser and Daniel Wallis)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tatiana Fokina and her husband Yevgeny Chichvarkin, high-profile Russian emigrants and businesspeople, are photographed in their Mayfair bar in London, Britain, March 23, 2022. REUTERS\/Dylan Martinez March 30, 2022 By<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":287,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1409191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1409191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/287"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1409191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1409191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1409191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1409191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1409191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}