Hunter Biden’s close associates in Russia have avoided further US sanctions. Many Russian oligarchs have been punished for their support of the Russian war machine in Ukraine.
The invasion of Ukraine resulted in a global strike against Russia’s wealthy in a bid to distance them from Putin. Personal and company assets, from yachts to bank accounts, have been frozen to deny Russia funding for its war. The few who have not been sanctioned share a personal relationship with the Bidens. The New York Post reports:
Former Moscow first lady Yelena Baturina, who allegedly dined with then-Vice President Biden in 2014 and 2015, and fellow oligarch Vladimir Yevtushenkov, who arranged at least two meetings with Hunter Biden during his dad’s vice presidency, again avoided US sanctions.
Baturina is a construction and real estate investor. Yevtushenkov until recently held majority control of a conglomerate that included Russian military contractors, a bank and the country’s largest cellphone provider.
The Biden family’s ties to Ukrainian and Russian business are old and murky. While Vice-President, Biden withheld aid to Ukraine until the prosecutor investigating Burisma, his son’s company, was fired. Fox News details:
“Then-Vice President Biden met—in person, for significant periods of time—with those individuals or their representatives,” the memo states. “Then-Vice President Biden joined approximately 20 phone calls on speakerphone with Hunter Biden’s foreign business associates and attended dinners with foreign oligarchs who paid huge sums of money to Hunter Biden. Joe Biden, ‘the brand,’ was the only product the Bidens sold.”
The “Third Bank Records Memorandum” follows two previous memos from the Republican-led committee tying Biden family members to payments linked to entities in China and Romania. The committee says the foreign payments to the Biden family now add up to over $20 million.
Biden’s Ukraine and Russia dealings were the reason for Trump’s original impeachment. While he attempted to uncover corruption in Ukraine, President Trump was accused of the crime Biden actually committed.
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