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It’s time to go after Vladimir Putin’s money in the West

This article was originally published in The Washington Post.

British Prime Minister Theresa May’s initial response to the attack with a nerve agent in England was old-school. She expelled 23 Russian diplomats, allowing Moscow to expel the same number of British diplomats and close the British Council and a British Consulate in Russia.

The joint Western action of 27 additional countries expelling Russian intelligence agents on March 26 added new force to the retaliation, but President Vladimir Putin can shrug this off. He is likely to expel a similar number of diplomats from all the countries involved. What would be even better is a crackdown on Kremlin money in the West — and the best place to start is by taking on the problem of anonymous ownership. The West should go after the money that the Putin regime has moved here.

Continue reading: the full op-ed can be found here.

Anders Aslund, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, is writing a book about Russia’s crony capitalism.

This article was originally published in The Washington Post