According to a ‘diplomatic source’ quoted
in this
story, one aspect of the UK’s sanctions against Russian oligarchs is to
attack their lifestyle:
"They come to Harrods to
shop, they stay in our best hotels when they like, they send their children to
our best public schools, and that is what's being stopped.
"So that these people are
essentially persona non grata in every major western European capital in the
world. That really bites."
Leaving aside the distinct possibility
that being prevented from undergoing the ‘education’ provided by certain public
schools might be doing the children a favour, let’s picture the scene in the
Kremlin, as Putin sits at one end of his legendary table and one of his favourite
oligarchs enters to sit at the other end.
Oligarch: Zdrastvuytie, Vladimir
Vladimirovich
Putin: Zdrastvuytie, Mikhail Sergeyovitch.
How can I help you today?
O: It’s these British sanctions – they’re
causing me a lot of problems. My wife, Ludmilla, had set her heart on some new
soft furnishings from Harrods, and we were going to send Ilya Mikhailovitch to
Eton. Even worse, my girlfriend, Natalya, is giving me a lot of grief about not
being able to meet up with her friends for tea at the Savoy, and the
restrictions on how much money she’s allowed to keep in her account mean she’s
down to her last few thousand. We need to do something, Vlad.
P: You want me to nuke Londongrad?
O: No, I don’t want that. Apart from
anything else, Natalya is there at the moment, even if I can’t visit her.
P: Just as well – no point nuking the
capital which is doing most to help us with our finances. So what do you want
me to do?
O: Well, if you could just see your way to
calling off the invasion and returning the tanks to their bases, I’m sure that
my life could return to normal.
P: Are things really that bad?
O: Oh, yes they are. Trust me on this,
Vlad.
P: OK, I’ll get on to it right away.
Anything else?
O: No, that’s all. Spasibo. I owe
you one.
It seems that there are people who really think
this is the way Russia works.
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1 comment:
That little sketch tells us more about how our shallow useless ruling class think. That they fail to attribute intelligence and indeed a strong resolve to Russians in general is a massive lack of understanding. I can just imagine many Russians concluding that maybe London is not such a smart place after all - it smells and rains a lot. "Maybe we just build up our new reserves in a less hostile and volatile place".
The Greek economy could do with a big leg up so Athens might be nice. Or Istanbul where there is another mellow kind of dictator who responds well to being stroked gently. You'd be surprised how many locations would be tempted to give a discreet welcome to Russian wealth without making a big fuss.
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