[dindobre]

>Russian corruption doesn't generally touch Western governments

No offense but the fact that someone on HN could get to this conclusion is rather shocking to me. Western Europe has plenty of russian corruption and I'm afraid the ongoing war has unearthed only a fraction of it.

[slashdev]

For example?

[FirmwareBurner]

Austria is the lobbying arm and safe heaven of Russian banks, oil & gas and oligarchs in the EU, and vice versa, Austrian banks and companies are heavily invested in Russia, and you don't just get to be a major investor in Russia without the bribes, connections and blessing of some very high up people in the government.

Pretty sure plenty of German politicians were similarly cozy with Russia before.

[roenxi]

While there will be obvious corruption involved in that, voting for access to cheap energy and access to foreign economies for investment are both things I'm in favour of. Being warm in winter and being wealthy are both good outcomes. So corruption is bad in all its forms, but that corruption doesn't threaten me.

A pretty basic assumption about Google and Facebook is that the US 3 letter agencies use the data in coups. Speaking as an Australian, the next time we have a Whitlam-style dismissal I assume Google will be covertly involved. Yandex not so much. Similar logic would hold in the Americas, Asia, and most of Western Europe. It'd be fascinating to know what role US social media companies were playing in the 2014 Ukraine revolution too as a comparison to somewhere that is very much a place where Russia would want to weaponise Yandexq.

[FirmwareBurner]

>Being warm in winter and being wealthy are both good outcomes.

You can be warm in the winter without doing deals with "the devil", and most average Austrian people don't benefit from that corrupt "trade", just a few banks and oil execs and real estate moguls who get to become even richer, unless you're gonna tell that their immense riches will "trickle down" to us plebs, any minute now.

>A pretty basic assumption about Google and Facebook is that the US 3 letter agencies use the data in coups.

Sure they do, which is why maintaining tech supremacy is a national security matter of the US, and an issue Europe doesn't get, that the more you fall behind in mainstream tech products and services, the more you are at the mercy of the US (and China).

The fact that US companies own all the biggest cloud, social media and chat platforms, gives the US incredible leverage, that nobody else has.

[chpatrick]

The son of a KGB agent and oligarch is a British lord: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evgeny_Lebedev

[throw-ru-938]

There's probably no hard proof, but Russia is allegedly funding far-right movements like AfD and whatever Le Pen's party in France is now called. Also, see the career of Gerhard Schroeder, first German chancellor and then a top Gazprom official.

[com]

The FN or whatever it’s called loan from a little-known Russian bank sound pretty wild:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/a-rus...

[chpatrick]

The former chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schröder went to work for Gazprom afterwards: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Schr%C3%B6der

[dindobre]

Just by taking a look at EU politicians getting into russian companies (such as Gazprom) after their mandate should tell you a couple of things. Ever wondered how some countries became so dependent on russia?

[reducesuffering]

Putin spokesman’s daughter as assistant to French Member of European Parliament https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/02/25/daughter-putin-s...

[civilitty]

See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_and_Security_Co...

[suslik]

For example: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56280898 . She lives in Russia now.

[throwaway290]

Plenty of examples of corruption trickling out... Take Boris Johnson's granting peerage to some Russian not long ago. Corruption is a trojan horse in capitalism, money matters which is OK with honestly earned money but when money is obtained by exploitation/violence/theft it infects the system because ultra rich oligarchs can use money to get influence. Before 2014 west (UK is known for it) couldn't resist Russian dirty money much, now they are learning slowly but unfortunately there's crypto to work around sanctions etc.

[justinclift]

Properties in London? :)