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Yanis Varoufakis: Why stop at the Russian oligarchs? We should clamp down on them all

Do US billionaires and Saudi princes enjoy less political clout, stash less money abroad or use their influence any better?

By

Yanis Varoufakis

Russia’s wealthiest 0.01% (the top 1% of the top 1%) have taken about half their wealth — around $200bn — out of Russia and stashed it in the UK and other havens
Russia’s wealthiest 0.01% (the top 1% of the top 1%) have taken about half their wealth — around $200bn — out of Russia and stashed it in the UK and other havens Photo: 168stock/Shutterstock

Yanis Varoufakis, a former finance minister of Greece, is leader of the MeRA25 party and professor of economics at the University of Athens

No sooner had Roman Abramovich, newly targeted by the UK’s sanctions on Russian oligarchs, announced that he was selling Chelsea Football Club than the feeding frenzy began. An athletics icon, City grandees and even a respected Times columnist, each representing different American multi-billionaires, descended on London in a race to buy the club. Meanwhile, a host of London properties belonging to Russian oligarchs entered a long-overdue process of liquidation. What took so long?

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