Russian corruption
Andrey Kozyrev, who served as foreign minister under President Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s, put forward what he said were misjudgments made by President Vladimir Putin in ordering the invasion.
In the thread, he claims Putin overestimated the Russian military, which he dedicated billions of dollars to modernizing. But this money, Kozyrev claimed, may have been lost to Russia’s endemic corruption
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—Andrei V Kozyrev (@andreivkozyrev) March 6, 2022
“The Kremlin spent the last 20 years trying to modernize its military. Much of that budget was stolen and spent on mega-yachts in Cyprus. But as a military advisor you cannot report that to the President. So they reported lies to him instead,” wrote Kozyrev.
Cyprus has long been a favored destination for Russian officials seeking to launder money, and was infamous for its long-running “golden passport” scheme that until 2020 allowed rich foreigners to effectively EU buy citizenship.
Transparency International ranks Russia as one of the world’s most corrupt countries, putting it 130th of 176, with a particular problem in its defense sector.
And who was the richest Russian oil oligarch busted by Putin for fraud?
It would be Mikhail Khodorovsky, the one who lives in London and funds the “dossier center” that supposedly verified identities in this hit piece.
The fact is AP and majority of the Western press/media is dead and haven’t investigated anything in years. They are stenographers, not journalists.
The truth is out there, but you have to really look for it.