A former senior official in Ukraine‘s ousted pro-Russian government sought to use Ireland to funnel Kremlin money into Kyiv and bypass international sanctions, an investigation by The Irish Times has found.
Under the plan, the money would be sent from Moscow to the United States and then to a woman in Ireland who would forward it to a prominent pro-Russian activist imprisoned by Ukrainian authorities.
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Documents detailing the scheme are contained in a collection of more than 70,000 emails and records concerning the activities of a Kremlin-backed legal fund, which EU security agencies say is an extension of Russian intelligence in some countries.
The Fund for the Support and Protection of the Rights of Compatriots Living Abroad, known by its Russian acronym Pravfond, was founded by the Russian government in 2012 and has close links to Russian intelligence officers.
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Details of Pravfond’s operations in Ireland, dating to 2013, were revealed by The Irish Times on Wednesday.
The documents also show Ireland played a role as a waypoint for the transfer of Pravfond funds to other countries.
In April 2023 Sergey Zavorotny, a one-time adviser to Ukraine’s former pro-Russia prime minister Nikolay Azarov, requested funds from Pravfond to pay for medical bills for Elena Berezhnaya, a well-known pro-Russian activist in Ukraine.
Mr Zavorotny had previously acted as press secretary to Mr Azarov, who stood down as prime minister in 2014.
Ms Berezhnaya (72) started receiving at least $3,000 (€2,644) a year from Pravfond via Mr Zavorotny in 2022, after she was arrested by the Ukrainian security services and accused of “high treason”.
In 2023 Mr Zavorotny told Pravfond it was impossible to get funds to Ms Berezhnaya due to international sanctions.
As a workaround, he proposed that money from Pravfond be transferred to Russian parents whose children were living in the United States.
These funds would then be transferred via money transfer company Western Union, or another payments system, to Dublin where they would be received by a close associate of Ms Berezhnaya living in the northwest whose current whereabouts could not be traced.
This woman would then get the money to Ms Berezhnaya’s legal team in Kyiv.
In response to queries, the Russian embassy in Dublin said it “firmly rejects preposterous allegations made against Pravfond” and accused The Irish Times of “libel and open Russophobia”.
