cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/5264688

The UK has introduced a variety of sanctions aimed at negating Russia’s war efforts. However, experts have long argued that ‘UK Limited Partnerships’ -which are easy to set up and can be used to obscure ownership under the benefit of English common law- have been used as intermediaries for over 17,000 imports into Russia between 24 February 2022 and 31 March 2023.

More than 600 of these shipments concern items flagged by the EU and its partners as “High Priority” battlefield components, potentially dual-use and sanctioned items that could assist Russia in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

3,211 exports into Russia contained items included in the ‘universe of critical components’, a term the pro-Ukrainian International Working Group on Russian Sanctions uses to define components found on the battlefield.

None of the Partnerships have controlling partners or persons of significant control in the UK.

  • AutoTL;DRB
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    28 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, UK Limited Partnerships (LPs) have been named as trade intermediaries in thousands of records detailing imports into the belligerent state.

    However, experts have long argued these corporate vehicles — which are easy to set up and can be used to obscure ownership under the benefit of English common law — encourage unchecked illicit activity on global financial markets.Bellingcat’s analysis of publicly available import and export records has revealed that:

    The EU and its international partners list a number of HS codes which they considers “High Priority”, pertaining to items “found on the battlefield in Ukraine or critical to the development, production or use of those Russian military systems”.

    Bellingcat showed the details of the shipments to L. Burke Files, an independent financial investigator expert in illicit finance and who has studied UK and Scottish LPs.

    SLPs have legitimate business applications, but their opaque ownership, lack of filing requirements and tax transparency have been utilized in a litany of major money laundromats and a wide variety of illicit activity worldwide, dating back to at least 2014.

    Last year, the Government said it is “aware of reports that some limited partnerships have been abused… and intends to crack down on their misuse.”New legislation, the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill, received Royal Assent on October 26, introducing regulations to LPs such as the need for partners to provide additional identifying information.


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