TROOST, DESAI AND SANCTIONS

The Western sanctions against companies and individuals doing business with Russia have produced a complex set of reactions with lobbyists and shell companies working overtime to beat the rap. A GEOPOLITICS Bureau report

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Collins Dictionary describes Russian roulette as indulging in something that “is very dangerous because it involves unpredictable risks.” Well, this phrase can be perfectly applied to what is happening at the moment in the sale of Russian Oil, the complexities of transporting that crude from Russia, lobbying in the US against sanctions with agents who have earlier represented Russian oligarchs and getting a waiver for Venezuelan Oil to replace the Russian crude!

According to the Financial Times: ‘The founder of Swiss oil trader Paramount Energy & Commodities SA has hired a former aide to Joe Biden to help prevent potential US sanctions after being targeted by the UK government over his involvement in trading Russian oil. How close he is to the Kremlin can be gauged from the fact that he is fast friends with Gennady Timchenko who once played tennis with Vladimir Putin and is a close friend of the Russian President.

The trader in question is Dutch global trade heavyweight Niels Troost. One of the most high-profile European traders( non-Russian) involved with Russian trade, Troost has been in the spotlight since sanctions kicked in after the Russian Army went to war with Ukraine some two years ago. Last November, Troost was sanctioned by the Conservative Government in the UK in November 2023. The first to be sanctioned was a Dubai-based subsidiary of Paramount Energy and Commodities. Then Troost and his flagship Geneva-based company were also sanctioned.