Who Are Russia's Oligarchs And What Power Do They Hold?

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4.3 • 4.5K Ratings

🗓️ 23 March 2022

⏱️ 27 minutes

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Summary

More than 1,000 Russians and their families have been hit with economic sanctions since Russia invaded Ukraine. The list includes Roman Abramovich, the owner of the English Premier League team Chelsea, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Attorney General Merrick Garland and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced a multi-lateral task force called Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs (REPO) with representatives from Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

It's part of the Justice Department's Kleptocature task force dedicated to enforcing the sweeping economic sanctions against Russian oligarchs.

Authorities have already seized hundreds of million dollars in assets including private yachts, jets, and luxury villas.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm just wondering why we use the term oligarchum.
0:10.8	We have plenty of billionaires here in our own country.
0:14.2	I feel like the term does a lot of work when it comes to otherizing and ex-avisizing
0:20.2	what really is just a typically capitalist formulation.
0:24.4	More than 1,000 Russians and their families have been hit with economic sanctions since
0:28.5	Russia invaded Ukraine.
0:30.6	It's part of an orchestrated campaign led by the United States, the United Kingdom,
0:34.7	and the European Union to strip the finances of those with ties to the Kremlin.
0:39.4	When you think of a Russian oligarch, images of a millionaire on a yacht in Miami, or in
0:43.9	a penthouse in London may come to mind, but the story behind these Russian elites and
0:48.8	their relationship with President Vladimir Putin is a bit more complicated than that.
0:54.0	Coming up, who are the Russian oligarchs?
0:56.4	And exactly what kind of power do they wield in Russia?
0:59.2	I'm Jen White.
1:00.6	You're listening to the 1A podcast where we get to the heart of the story.
1:04.4	A reminder to have your questions answered on future topics, or just to let us know what
1:09.0	you think, tweet us at 1A.
1:16.8	We're discussing Russian oligarchs.
1:19.3	Here to help kick off the conversation is Ben Judah.
1:22.0	He's a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Europe Center and a foreign policy writer
1:25.8	based in New York.
1:26.8	Ben, thanks for being here.
	...

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