Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project

A Russian billionaire living in Greece has given hundreds of thousands of euros to Macedonian opponents of the country’s proposed name change. The recipients include football hooligans who have rioted in the capital.

Russian-Greek businessman Ivan Savvidi. (Credit: Alchetron)

Thermal imaging devices, such as night-vision goggles, are the eyes of a modern army. With their help, military operations can be undertaken even at night or in poor visibility.

Credit: Edin Pasovic / OCCRP

Two United States lawmakers called on President Trump’s administration to sanction Russian billionaire Vladimir Yevtushenkov and start an investigation into his corrupt business activities, Radio Free Europe reported Friday.

US authorities indicted a number of Russian and Syrian nationals on Tuesday for alleged money laundering and circumvention of US economic sanctions against Syria and Crimea through the use of front companies and falsified documents, the Justice Department announced.

Two journalists in Ukraine say they are on an alleged Russian hit-list but don’t intend to hide, Reuters reported Monday.

It’s known as “Venice outside Moscow.”

Located in the Odintsovo district about 20 kilometers from the busy rush of Russia’s capital, Millennium Park is a peaceful resort of luxurious dachas and opulent mansions, all interconnected by a network of man-made waterways and pedestrian paths. Many of Russia’s elite have made this village, advertised as resembling Europe, their home.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila arrive at Rostock-Laage for the 2007 G8 summit. Credit: Reuters / Stephen Hird

A Russian journalist who frequently criticised the Kremlin and was on Tuesday reported to have been killed, shocked the public when he appeared alive at a Wednesday press conference of the Ukrainian state security service.

Members of the UK Parliament called this week for tighter sanctions against Kremin-connected individuals and warned that the government is not shielding national security interests from Russian “kleptocrats and human rights abusers.”

A former sales manager for Bombardier Transportation, whose second instance corruption trail was to start in January, has emigrated back to Russia, news agency TT reported on Thursday.

Former British Prime Minister David Cameron indicated foul play might be why the U.K. lost the bid to host the FIFA 2018 World Cup to Russia,  The Independentreported.

A Russian investigative journalist who wrote about mercenaries in Syria has died following a suspicious fall from his fifth-floor balcony, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported Sunday.

While Monday showed big losses for Russia’s oligarchs targeted by US sanctions, they might have already started recovering by Friday.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev promised on Monday to help Russian companies targeted by US sanctions with the creation of two jurisdictions with special tax rules in Russia, similar to offshores, Vedomosti reported.

Sergei Skripal, the former Russian military intelligence agent who was poisoned in Britain, was not the first victim of the deadly toxin. Is it still out there?

The name “Novichok” is now widely-known after the poisoning of Sergey Skripal in Salisbury. It turns out that a substance from this group of chemicals was used to murder a banker in 1995. Could some of it have fallen into the hands of criminals? Photo by: Edin Pasovic / OCCRP

The net worth of Oleg Deripaska, one of the oligarchs targeted by Friday’s U.S. sanctions, fell by US$1.1 billion, Bloomberg reported Monday.

Moscow’s deteriorating relationship with the West and stricter checks of money origins in the UK have forced many rich Russian emigrants to consider returning to their homeland.

A Moscow Court opened a hearing on Wednesday on how a former prizefighter killed crime boss Karen “Lipetsky” Petrosyan at a gas station in Moscow over US$1.7 million, Rosbalt reports.

Two Russian environmental activists were beaten up when they returned from taking photographs of a private chapel illegally built on forest land on the Black Sea Coast. A gang of thugs was waiting for them at their offices in Krasnodar, Russia’s Novaya Gazeta revealed on Monday.

Russian billionaire Ziyavudin Magomedov was arrested Saturday for embezzling US$44million, Radio Free Europe reports.

British authorities on Thursday began new investigations into money-laundering, sanctions and economic crime, focusing particular attention on properties purchased from those with Russian connections.