3 ms·

It's extremely likely that this person isn't responsible for the website, or knows anything about it. Criminal or shady activities in Russia (and everywhere els

It's extremely likely that this person isn't responsible for the website, or knows anything about it. Criminal or shady activities in Russia (and everywhere else) are often laundered through cutouts. You can find an example of this in "Magnitsky act: behind the scenes" where Bill Browder allegedly laundered his corporate holdings for tax fraud through various handicapped people, and eventually gangsters who were conveniently murdered.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
Fins 8y ago
Using that piece of rather silly putin's propaganda as a source lowers your credibility greatly.
- orbital-decay 8y ago
  However, their point stands true: in exUSSR climate, registering a dummy entity through an ignorant proxy is an easy and common way to run a shady business, and sometimes even a legit one. It's entirely unnecessary to bring Magnitsky's deal as an example, but this method is well known and practiced since perestroika. It's safe to assume the person in question was a proxy, and that further investigation is needed.
  - Fins 8y ago
    Oh, that's for sure, it's just that pointing at this particular hit piece is not the most convincing argument. Otherwise, it's entirely correct that business climate in Russia is far from transparent.
- scottlocklin 8y ago
  Ahem. The maker of that documentary is anti-Putin to the extent he supports the theory that Putin blew up some Russian apartment buildings to start a war. Browder, on the other hand, is actively surpressing the documentary; even if none of the things said about him in the documentary are true (in which case you'd think he would sue the guy who made it for libel; a guy who lives in the UK), that's pretty shady.
  - gandhium 8y ago
    That filmmaker was anti-Putin and he still lives in Russia? Totally believable.
    - rjplatte 8y ago
      That's not uncommon. Only very high-profile Putin opposers disappear.
      - Fins 8y ago
        Or we do not hear about low-profile ones. Being high profile (Navalny, Khodorkovsky) might be even an insurance policy to keep one at least alive.
      - gspetr 8y ago
        Sadly, this isn't true. You can use google translate to read this: https://www.novayagazeta.ru/articles/2018/10/22/78289-povar-lyubit-poostree https://www.novayagazeta.ru/articles/2018/10/22/78289-povar-... TL;DR version: Small time regional bloggers disappear and the "executioners" are then erased themselves. This is one of the very few newspapers left in Russia which does this kind of investigative journalism, they get death threats regularly. EDIT: Spelling.
    - equalunique 8y ago
      Pussy Riot is anti-Putin and they are still based in Russia. Same can be said about everyone in Russia who voted against Putin in the most recent election. You don't have to live outside of Russia to be anti-Putin.
axus 8y ago
If this were a criminal enterprise I'd agree with you, but I can imagine any of us putting together a document scraping/resource website and not having any qualms about it. It's pretty cheap to buy the obfuscation service when you register domains, he probably did not have a lot of money when he started.
ender89 8y ago
""Magnitsky act: behind the scenes" where Bill Browder allegedly laundered his corporate holdings for tax fraud through various handicapped people, and eventually gangsters who were conveniently murdered." Look, I'm not saying that's a bullshit documentary, but that's literally the kind of smear campaign Putin would execute to try to get talks of the magnitsky act thrown out. I wouldn't take any of that information as factual.
- scottlocklin 8y ago
  My spot checks indicate it was 10/10 on the money, not that this has anything to do with the subject on this thread. Just because some anon on the internet is giving me 'friendly advice' to not take any of the information as factual because Putin might like it (or because it makes Browder sad).... Why are you even bringing this up?

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

Fins 8y ago

Using that piece of rather silly putin's propaganda as a source lowers your credibility greatly.

orbital-decay 8y ago
However, their point stands true: in exUSSR climate, registering a dummy entity through an ignorant proxy is an easy and common way to run a shady business, and sometimes even a legit one. It's entirely unnecessary to bring Magnitsky's deal as an example, but this method is well known and practiced since perestroika. It's safe to assume the person in question was a proxy, and that further investigation is needed.
- Fins 8y ago
  Oh, that's for sure, it's just that pointing at this particular hit piece is not the most convincing argument. Otherwise, it's entirely correct that business climate in Russia is far from transparent.
scottlocklin 8y ago
Ahem. The maker of that documentary is anti-Putin to the extent he supports the theory that Putin blew up some Russian apartment buildings to start a war. Browder, on the other hand, is actively surpressing the documentary; even if none of the things said about him in the documentary are true (in which case you'd think he would sue the guy who made it for libel; a guy who lives in the UK), that's pretty shady.
- gandhium 8y ago
  That filmmaker was anti-Putin and he still lives in Russia? Totally believable.
  - rjplatte 8y ago
    That's not uncommon. Only very high-profile Putin opposers disappear.
    - Fins 8y ago
      Or we do not hear about low-profile ones. Being high profile (Navalny, Khodorkovsky) might be even an insurance policy to keep one at least alive.
    - gspetr 8y ago
      Sadly, this isn't true. You can use google translate to read this: https://www.novayagazeta.ru/articles/2018/10/22/78289-povar-lyubit-poostree https://www.novayagazeta.ru/articles/2018/10/22/78289-povar-... TL;DR version: Small time regional bloggers disappear and the "executioners" are then erased themselves. This is one of the very few newspapers left in Russia which does this kind of investigative journalism, they get death threats regularly. EDIT: Spelling.
  - equalunique 8y ago
    Pussy Riot is anti-Putin and they are still based in Russia. Same can be said about everyone in Russia who voted against Putin in the most recent election. You don't have to live outside of Russia to be anti-Putin.

axus 8y ago

If this were a criminal enterprise I'd agree with you, but I can imagine any of us putting together a document scraping/resource website and not having any qualms about it. It's pretty cheap to buy the obfuscation service when you register domains, he probably did not have a lot of money when he started.

ender89 8y ago

""Magnitsky act: behind the scenes" where Bill Browder allegedly laundered his corporate holdings for tax fraud through various handicapped people, and eventually gangsters who were conveniently murdered." Look, I'm not saying that's a bullshit documentary, but that's literally the kind of smear campaign Putin would execute to try to get talks of the magnitsky act thrown out. I wouldn't take any of that information as factual.

scottlocklin 8y ago
My spot checks indicate it was 10/10 on the money, not that this has anything to do with the subject on this thread. Just because some anon on the internet is giving me 'friendly advice' to not take any of the information as factual because Putin might like it (or because it makes Browder sad).... Why are you even bringing this up?