WSJ: Zelensky Lobbied U.S. to Keep Russian-Israeli Oligarch Roman Abramovich OFF Sanctions List

Chris Menahan
InformationLiberation
Mar. 24, 2022

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky quietly and successfully lobbied Joe Biden to keep billionaire Russian-Israeli oligarch Roman Abramovich off Washington's sanctions list, according to a bombshell new report from the Wall Street Journal.

The WSJ broke the shocking news on Wednesday but spun what appears to be an astonishing act of corruption by claiming Zelensky wanted Abramovich to act as a "go-between" to "facilitate peace talks" -- as if Putin gives a damn what he has to say.


It came out earlier this month that the Israeli government lobbied the US to keep Abramovich off the sanctions list and Abramovich fled to Israel shortly thereafter in an effort to dodge sanctions from the UK and EU.





From The Wall Street Journal, "Ukrainian President Asked Biden Not to Sanction Abramovich, to Facilitate Peace Talks":
Early this month, officials inside the U.S. Treasury Department drafted a set of sanctions to punish Roman Abramovich, a prominent Russian oligarch, following Russia’s attack on Ukraine, say people familiar with the plans.

When it came time to announce those sanctions, which had been designed to go out in tandem with sanctions from the U.K. and European Union, the White House’s National Security Council told the Treasury to hold off. The reason: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky advised President Biden in a recent phone call to wait on sanctioning the oligarch, who might prove important as a go-between with Russia in helping to negotiate peace, according to people with knowledge of the call.

[...] [Asked] whether Mr. Abramovich has been a go-between in talks between the Ukrainians and Russians, [State Department spokesman Ned Price] added: "There are a number of channels through which our Ukrainian partners and their Russian counterparts can engage in dialogue and diplomacy."

The Ukrainian president’s office declined to comment.

“For the negotiations, and in the interest of them succeeding, it is not helpful commenting on the process nor on Mr. Abramovich’s involvement,” a spokesperson for Mr. Abramovich said in a statement. “As previously stated, based on requests, including from Jewish organizations in Ukraine, he has been doing all he can to support efforts aimed at restoring peace as soon as possible.”

[...] U.S. officials who spoke with The Wall Street Journal emphasized that they have no reason to believe Mr. Abramovich has been particularly helpful in the talks between the Ukrainian and Russian governments, and intelligence assessments have, in fact, suggested otherwise.

Mr. Abramovich got involved after Ukrainian government officials reached out to people with Russian contacts who might be able to provide a bridge to Mr. Putin. One of them was film producer Alexander Rodnyansky, the father of an adviser to Ukraine’s president, according to the producer’s publicist Lera Paksyalina. Mr. Rodyansky founded a Ukrainian television channel that screened shows produced by Mr. Zelensky while he was an actor.

Responding to the request for assistance, he reached out to Mr. Abramovich, a person familiar with the matter said. Mr. Abramovich knew Mr. Rodnyansky through his funding of arts projects in Russia, the person said.

Mr. Abramovich has told associates that he was trying to act as a go-between in the conflict, according to people familiar with the matter.

Days after Russia’s invasion, Mr. Abramovich’s spokeswoman confirmed his involvement, saying he had offered to help the Ukrainian government in “achieving a peaceful resolution.”
Abramovich isn't negotiating s**t.

Just last week, Vladimir Putin gave a speech where he appeared to denounce the Russian oligarchs who fled to Israel as a "fifth column" of "national traitors" who see themselves as a "superior race" and "cannot make do without foie gras, oysters or gender freedom as they call it."

The only negotiating Abramovich did was with the Israeli government and perhaps Igor Kolomoisky (the Israeli billionaire who secretly funded the "neo-nazi" Azov Battalion and helped install Zelensky into the presidency) by asking them to lobby Zelensky to help save his plundered wealth.

At the same time Zelensky is releasing green screen videos superimposing himself in Kiev and ordering nearly all adult males to fight to their deaths, he's working behind the scenes to ensure a "Russian" oligarch's enormous wealth remains untouched!

On Wednesday, the UK government also suspiciously reversed some of their sanctions on Abramovich to help him keep his London football team afloat!


Did Zelensky personally lobby Boris Johnson to save Chelsea, too?

We know thanks to the Pandora Papers leak that Zelensky is a corrupt wheeler-dealer financed by Israeli billionaire Igor Kolomoisky who hid his wealth in a shadowy network of offshore companies.


Now we also know he personally lobbied Biden to keep Israeli billionaire Roman Abramovich from getting sanctioned.

RELATED: Kremlin Says Roman Abramovich Is Not Involved in Peace Talks, Only Took Part 'At The Initial Stage'

Follow InformationLiberation on Twitter, Facebook, Gab, Minds, Parler and Telegram.












All original InformationLiberation articles CC 4.0



About - Privacy Policy