9 Apr, 2024 22:51
Ukrainian Burisma company 'vehicle to launder taxpayer money' - lawyer to RT

The oil and gas firm was named by the Russian Investigative Committee among organizations potentially used to finance terrorism

The Russian Investigative Committee on Tuesday said it launched a criminal probe into the financing of terrorism, naming the Ukrainian industrial conglomerate Burisma among the suspects.

RT spoke about the unfolding scandal to Arnaud Develay, an international human rights advocate and the author of a book covering ties between the Ukrainian company and the family of US President Joe Biden.

"This is something that the Russian Investigative Committee is going to have to determine to be sure, but this is nothing new," Develay stated, describing the Ukrainian company as a "vehicle to launder taxpayers' money."

The investigators have already "established that the funds, flowing through commercial organizations, including the oil and gas conglomerate Burisma Holdings, operating in Ukraine, have been used in recent years to carry out terrorist attacks in Russia" and beyond.

Should the allegation prove to be true, the West will try its best to swipe the whole affair under the rug, as well as to derail any attempts to bring it before international bodies, Develay believes.

"They would try to fight tooth and nail to basically deny it," he said, adding that an attempt to establish a UN-backed tribunal to handle the affair is bound to get vetoed by the "Big Three" - the US, the UK and France.

"This is something that is going to have to be handled a different way," he warned.

Develay's work, titled 'Foreign Entanglements: Ukraine, Biden & the Fractured American Political Consensus' [Amazon link inserted.] is set for public release on Wednesday.

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There is a set date for the IDF's invasion of Rafah, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Monday night.

The only problem is that this very critical information wasn't told to the military, the Defense Ministry, or any members of the war cabinet.

It is hard to imagine how this set date will advance without notifying these key powers responsible for IDF actions.

Also, it was bizarre for Netanyahu to be talking about an exact date, when around 24 hours earlier, the IDF had pulled out of southern Gaza and nearly halted most of its operations throughout the enclave, save for small targeted operations.

What is more likely is that Netanyahu has possibly taken risks with national security issues - out of concern for political issues.

After the IDF withdrew from southern Gaza on Sunday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatened to topple Netanyahu's government if he did not authorize a Rafah invasion.

The impression from Ben-Gvir was that he was watching the clock, and that he wouldn't give Netanyahu months to comply.

Given that the IDF, Defense Ministry, and war cabinet are not familiar with a specific date, it is reasonable to estimate that this is what stands behind Netanyahu's statement.

Tucker Carlson: [...] But have never explained why you think that happened, except to say that the West fears a strong Russia. But we have a strong China that the West doesn't seem to be very afraid of. What about Russia, what do you think convinced the policymakers to take it down?

Vladimir Putin: The West is afraid of a strong China more than it fears a strong Russia because Russia has 150 million people, and China has a 1.5 billion population, and its economy is growing by leaps and bounds — over five percent a year, it used to be even more.

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