Hiding in plain sight: Russia’s offshore networks in Europe and how to unplug them
Russia has transformed offshore finance into a tool for projecting power beyond its borders, using opaque corporate networks, illicit financial flows, and captured institutions to evade sanctions and undermine the resilience of democratic states. As Western restrictions have tightened since 2022, Kremlin-linked capital has adapted, becoming more fragmented, less transparent, and increasingly embedded in offshore jurisdictions and alternative financial channels. New research by the Center for the Study of Democracy maps the corporate networks of Russia’s 100 largest companies and finds they grew by a third between 2015 and 2025, to almost 11,000 entities. Direct Russian ownership of European subsidiaries fell, while ownership routed through Cyprus, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the UK and the British Virgin Islands nearly doubled. Alongside these networks, a parallel payment system of front companies, stablecoins and gold has grown up outside SWIFT.
This seminar aims to discuss why sanctions enforcement is falling short, why going after individual oligarchs and assets is not enough, and what the UK, the EU and the U.S. can do to close the gaps that keep the system for sanctions evasion and illicit financial flows running.
Speakers & Chair
- Dr Vanya Petrova, Senior Analyst, Center for the Study of Democracy.
- Marius Köppen, Senior Analyst, Center for the Study of Democracy.
- Liz Dávid-Barrett, Director, GI ACE Programme & Centre for the Study of Corruption