Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says all 29 member countries would respond to a serious cyber-attack on one of them. Writing in Prospect Magazine, he said such an incident would trigger a “collective defence commitment”, known as Article 5 of its founding treaty. Article 5 has not been triggered since the 9/11 terror attacks on […]

Mega-rich homes tour puts spotlight on London’s oligarchs – Campaigners connected to Russia’s opposition leader Alexei Navalny – a lawyer and critic of corruption – hired a bus and gave a guided tour of houses and flats in London’s most exclusive districts, properties owned by Russian government ministers and wealthy friends of Russia’s president, Vladimir […]

CMS has issued its first edition of our Sanctions Update, an at-a-glance roundup of recent developments in relation to economic and trade sanctions, with a particular focus on recent developments concerning Iran and Russia. It is hoped that you will find this update useful in keeping you up to speed in this constantly evolving area […]

It’s bad enough that just getting things done in Russia, from beating a speeding ticket to running a business, often means paying a kickback. But now it’s worse: You’ve got to pay twice as much. Russia’s Interior Ministry told reporters in late July that the average bribe may have doubled from around 109,000 rubles last year to 208,000 today. In dollars, that increase is nowhere nearly […]

US authorities are investigating German banking giant Deutsche Bank over alleged money laundering in Russia, people familiar with the matter said Monday. The investigation centers on billions of dollars’ worth of transactions carried out by Deutsche Bank in Russia that New York state regulators believe may have been used to disguise money illegally moved out […]

The EU has recently announced an extension of its sanctions imposed in response to the situation in Ukraine.  EU leaders had previously confirmed that the duration of sanctions affecting Russia would be linked to the implementation of the Minsk Agreements, currently foreseen to be completed by 31 December 2015.  The EU has therefore taken steps […]

On 11 March 2015 Graham Marchment pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court and was sentenced to 2.5 years imprisonment for his role in the award of contracts in a series of high-value infrastructure projects. Marchment, a British national originally from West Sussex, but resident in the Philippines in recent years. His guilty plea follows the conviction after […]

The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has forwarded a criminal case over alleged embezzlement of 5 billion rubles ($96.4 mln) from the Bank for Foreign Trade (VTB) to court, RIA Novosti reports Thursday citing the authorities. According to the statement, Deputy Prosecutor General Viktor Grin confirmed the indictment of Fyodor Khoroshilov and Gendrik Mundut, who are […]