Expert Comments — Publications

CFR accepts $12 mln from Len Blavatnik against a backlash from 56 activists and foreign policy professionals

Publications, Expert CommentsIlya ZaslavskiyOctober 8, 2019Comment

The Poisoning of BP’s CEO and Oxford’s failed due diligence

This case is a good example how negligence and reluctance in instances of crime and corruption that occurred on Russian soil vis-à-vis Western investors can eventually lead not only to the undermining of best business practices. In case of BP’s harassment by Kremlin-connected oligarchs and Russian security services, reluctance of UK and US law enforcement to react led to beneficiaries of harassment to use ill-gotten means to launder their reputation at University of Oxford and in other key academic and cultural institutions in the West that all failed to adequately use their due diligence rules.

Expert CommentsIlya ZaslavskiyJune 12, 2019bp, oxford, oligarchs, due diligenceComment

Why comrade Sir Leonid (Len) Blavatnik is a Putin oligarch and why Hudson Institute, Harvard, Oxford and other entities should not accept his tainted money.

On 3 December 2018 Hudson Institute holds a dinner for Paul Ryan and Nikki Haley where Putin's oligarch Len Blavatnik is a major patron. Hudson reportedly says that it took a big check from Blavatnik by accident but it is tough to believe. Here is an explanation why exactly Sir Leonid (Len) is an oligarch and Kremlin/FSB's dear comrade and an account of multiple negative implications from these seemingly innocuous donations.