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Sanctions against Russia

(17 Posts)
varian Wed 20-Apr-22 18:02:02

A Cross-party group says government failed to investigate reported attempts to meddle in UK elections.

The legal action has been launched in response to the UK government’s refusal to order an inquiry into the findings of the Russia report, published by the intelligence and security committee (ISC) in July 2020, which reported credible evidence of attempts by Russia to interfere with the UK’s electoral processes.

The parliamentary group bringing the action includes the Labour MP Ben Bradshaw, the former leader of the Green party Caroline Lucas, the SNP MP Alyn Smith, Lord Strasburger of the Lib Dems and the former Tory peer Lady Wheatcroft.

The group claims the government is in breach of article 3 of the first protocol to the European convention on human rights, which requires regular, free, secret-ballot elections to “ensure the free expression of the opinion of the people”.

varian Wed 20-Apr-22 14:15:35

UK inquiry was warned of Russian infiltration, leaked testimony shows

edition.cnn.com/2019/11/08/uk/uk-russia-inquiry-intelligence-security-committee-gbr-intl/index.html

DaisyAnne Fri 25-Feb-22 18:56:58

Gorbachev removed the constitutional role of the Communist party. This led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union on 26 December 1991. This is quite a long time ago and strange to have missed it smile

vegansrock Fri 25-Feb-22 18:37:33

sago Russia is no longer a communist country.

DaisyAnne Fri 25-Feb-22 18:24:49

You may find watching this helps clarify what is being said about the Russian money in London. Russian Money in British Politics: How London's Shaped by Oligarchs - TLDR news

Their blurb says Over recent years London (and the UK) has become increasingly influenced by Russian money and the Oligarchs who control it. So in this video, we're going to examine the impact and implications of Russian influence in Britain and why it matters now more than ever.

They seem pretty non-partisan.

Witzend Fri 25-Feb-22 18:19:43

Sago

It seems the Italians want exemption for luxury goods i.e Gucci etc.
Interesting how the worlds greatest communist countries are the biggest buyers of such goods,

Apparently many of the pelts of the 17 million mink that were slaughtered in Denmark because of Covid, were destined for China.

Kali2 Fri 25-Feb-22 18:16:04

Sorry, link did not share properly. Ian Hislop on Have I got News for You on Conservative Party and Jonson's links to Russian Oligarchs and BungaBunga parties in Umbria.

Perhaps someone with better technical skills will share it. (please)

Kali2 Fri 25-Feb-22 18:11:31

Remember this - more relevant than ever now

tinyurl.com/mtam5tej #RussiaUkraineConflict

BlueBalou Fri 25-Feb-22 17:56:10

I suspect Putin is fully prepared for any sanctions and has planned ways of minimising the impacts on Russia.
Protesters in Russia will apparently be treated as traitors, truly appalling but hardly surprising I guess. A very depressing and tragic situation thanks to one man.

Kali2 Fri 25-Feb-22 17:41:22

Rees-Mogg was given just enough time to transfer all his Russian funds elsewhere!!!

Insider Trading is illegal, is it not?

Sago Fri 25-Feb-22 17:37:20

It seems the Italians want exemption for luxury goods i.e Gucci etc.
Interesting how the worlds greatest communist countries are the biggest buyers of such goods,

GrannyGravy13 Fri 25-Feb-22 16:02:23

Dinahmo

I saw a film of some young people marching. I thought that they were very brave.

Apparently some sailors on a Ukraine ship, when asked to surrender told the Russians to f... off and were shot.

One of the guests on J Vine this morning told how a Russian woman living in England telephoned his show to say how her mother, living in Russia was holding a photo of the soldiers with her thumbs up. The daughter could not get her mother to understand what was happening.

Putin wants to go down in history as the saviour of Russian. More likely it will be as Putin the Terrible.

Dinahmo I think you may be referring to the guards on Snake Island, there is live footage on Twitter showing the Russian ships Captain demanding that the 13 men surrender or be shot, and yes they replied f&#k off (and a lot more apparently) and consequently they were shot dead.

Dinahmo Fri 25-Feb-22 15:58:28

I saw a film of some young people marching. I thought that they were very brave.

Apparently some sailors on a Ukraine ship, when asked to surrender told the Russians to f... off and were shot.

One of the guests on J Vine this morning told how a Russian woman living in England telephoned his show to say how her mother, living in Russia was holding a photo of the soldiers with her thumbs up. The daughter could not get her mother to understand what was happening.

Putin wants to go down in history as the saviour of Russian. More likely it will be as Putin the Terrible.

Aveline Fri 25-Feb-22 14:27:21

There have been massive anti war protests in many Russian cities. I was amazed to see the sheer number of ordinary Russian citizens who have come out in support of Ukraine. I don't know how to post the link but one chap in Twitter is collating all the photos as they come in. It was very heartening to see.

Wheniwasyourage Fri 25-Feb-22 14:11:51

Certainly it seems that the future of Putin is in the hands of the Russian people, and it's difficult for even them to do anything. I see your point Dinahmo and it makes sense. I think the problem would be in making them realise that things need to be changed without antagonising them too much and making them agree with Putin's paranoid attitude that the rest of the world is out to get Russia. hmm

GrannyGravy13 Fri 25-Feb-22 14:08:16

Germany, Italy, Hungary and Cyprus are against Russia being banned from SWIFT.

If the ban was implemented Russia could/would move immediately over to China’s CIPS

Dinahmo Fri 25-Feb-22 13:35:04

There has been a lot of talk about sanctions against the oligarchs but from what I've read, they are just there to give Putin money when he needs it but he does not heed their advice. In any event they will have money stashed all over the world, most of it being difficult to get at by governments.

Some groups of Russians seem to be supporting Putin, perhaps mainly the elderly and/or the poor. Anyone who is critical of Putin is thrown into jail it seems, if not worse.

It seems to me there is one group of people who could be hit hard by sanctions and that's the middle classes. In the UK, when the travel bans were introduced because of covid and then extended, there were many people on here (and elsewhere) complaining that they couldn't have their 2 or 3 holidays during the year and others that they couldn't get to their holiday homes in Europe. I doubt that many of these people are millionaires or multi millionaires, let alone oligarchs!

I'm not criticising these people at all but imagine if their equivalent in Russia were banned from entering any other countries for their holidays or to visit family and friends. I imagine that the outcry would be enormous. Russians enjoy the Western life style. They enjoy the freedoms that we have. They love shopping for luxury goods. Imagine the response of they were prevented from enjoying things.

There were very good reasons for the covid travel bans which were understood by most. But would the educated middle class Russians tolerate such restrictions because of Putin's ideas of expansion?

For sanctions to be effective there should be agreement between all the European countries as to what they should be and there should be no exceptions. I heard yesterday that Italy wants an exemption for its luxury leather goods. Other countries don't want Russia to be cut out from the Swift banking transfer system.

If these sort of sanctions are enforced people outside Russia will suffer. Hoteliers luxury clothes and shoe shops etc etc but surely it would be worth taking a bit of a hit ourselves in order to prevent another country being overrun?