How the Kremlin's ‘soft power' agency supporting expats overseas skirts sanctions
invasion of Ukraine
in February 2022, it became increasingly difficult for
Russia
to continue its influence operations in Europe.
For years, the Kremlin had operated a network of organisations designed to increase Russian soft power overseas. One of these organisations was the Fund for the Support and Protection of the Rights of Compatriots Living Abroad, known by its Russian acronym Pravfond.
Since 2012 Pravfond had been paying for legal services for Russians living abroad, including in Ireland. However, according to various western intelligence agencies it was, in some countries, also funding influence operations and acting as an extension of Russian intelligence.
Following the invasion, the EU placed extensive sanctions on Russia's banking sector, which made it increasingly difficult for Pravfond and similar organisations to move money overseas.
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In 2023, the EU also specifically sanctioned Pravfond, accusing it of acting in the Kremlin's foreign policy interests.
One person who was affected was Elena Berezhnaya, a 72-year-old Ukrainian who had risen to prominence by criticising Ukraine's pro-EU government and advocating pro-Russian positions.
In 2022, Berezhnaya was arrested by the Ukrainian security service and accused of 'high treason'.
Documents contained in a collection of more than 70,000 emails and records detailing the activities of Pravfond, show she started to receive help from Sergey Borisovich Zavorotny, who previously served as press secretary to Ukraine's pro-Russian prime minister Mykola Azarov. In 2014 Azarov fled to Russia following the Euromaiden protests that resulted in the ousting of the pro-Russian government in Kyiv.
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Investigation: The links between lawyers in Ireland and Putin's soft-power agency
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After her arrest, Pravfond agreed to provide Zavorotny with $3,000 (€2,644) for Berezhnaya's medical care in custody.
The following year, as they discussed another payment, Zavorotny raised the problem of sanctions, which he said made it 'impossible' to receive Pravfond funds.
This is where another Ukrainian woman came in, specifically a woman living in the northwest of Ireland.
In April 2023, Zavorotny proposed a plan to Pravfond. The fund would give money to parents who had adult children living in the United States.
These children would then transfer the money to the Ukrainian woman living in the northwest. This woman was a close associate of Berezhnaya and would ensure the money got to her legal team in Kyiv, Zavorotny said in a note.
Later that month Zavorotny signed another contract with Pravfond for $3,000 for Berezhnaya. In 2024 there was another similar agreement.
It was not the first time the Ukrainian woman living in the northwest had handled money linked to Pravfond. A Western Union receipt, which was found in the Pravfond records, shows she received just over $2,800 from a US account in November 2022.
The Irish address on the receipt is the same as a location previously used to house Ukrainian refugees.
It is not known if Berezhnaya continues to receive money from Pravfond or if this money is been funnelled through Ireland. In December 2024, according to international media reports, Berezhnaya was jailed for 14 years by a Ukrainian court.
Records concerning operations in Ireland and other countries show Pravfond quickly adapted to the new reality of wartime sanctions. In fact, it appears they were little more than a speed bump.
In March 2024 a draft annual report of the foundation's activities, sent to the Russian foreign ministry and included in the leaked communications, noted that sanctions had imposed 'certain difficulties for practical work'.
'Nevertheless,' the executive director of the foundation Aleksandr Udaltsov wrote in the report, 'so far it has been possible to resolve issues in each specific case, using, among other things, alternative and workaround options.'
In response to queries, the Russian embassy in Dublin said it 'firmly rejects preposterous allegations' made against Pravfond, which it said acts in 'full accordance with universally recognised humanitarian principles and norms of international human rights law'.
The embassy spokesman compared its activity to Ireland's Emigrant Support Programme, which provides assistance to the Irish diaspora.
The spokesman dismissed the queries from The Irish Times, saying they had 'nothing to do with journalism and amounts to libel and open Russophobia', he said.
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