russian oligarchs subject to sanctions do business with EU funds

This was reported in an exclusive comment to Ukrinform by Italian journalist Eduardo Anciano, who conducted an investigation into the wine-producing companies of russian oligarchs in Italy.

‘This is the first time that sanctioned oligarchs are directly receiving public funds,’ Anciano emphasised.

The investigator shared the schemes that russian oligarchs have been using since 2023, when personal sanctions began to be actively imposed on them.

"The oligarchs re-registered their companies, changing their jurisdiction from Cyprus (still in the EU) to the British Virgin Islands. They transferred assets to their wives, children, and relatives, who are not subject to EU sanctions. For example, Roman Trotsenko, who is under sanctions, bought a winery, but its share now belongs to his son Gleb, who is not subject to EU sanctions (but is subject to US and British sanctions)," says the Italian journalist.

He contacted a number of regulatory bodies, including Italy's National Anti-Corruption Agency (ANAC) and the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF), which formally found no violations.

"We only received responses from anti-corruption and financial authorities on the general question of how the spending of the Recovery and Resilience Fund is monitored. And in most cases, these authorities stated that, in principle, individuals under sanctions cannot receive funding from European funds. But in some cases, especially when it comes to foreign companies, Italian anti-corruption authorities admit that they are unable to determine who the actual beneficial owner is. And although this seems like a technical issue, it is actually of enormous importance and has serious political implications. After all, there is still no single register of beneficial owners in Italy, other EU countries, or at the EU level in general," Anciano said.

He emphasised that this demonstrates a systemic gap that allows russians under sanctions to indirectly use European resources through opaque corporate structures.

‘If there is no clear idea of who the real beneficiary is, it is impossible to say who actually receives these funds. And this is important not only in the context of sanctions — it is a basic condition for the transparent use of public funds,’ the Italian investigator noted.

Source: Ukrinform