While much of the media has been focusing on the Panama Papers allegations surrounding "close friends" of Russian president Vladimir Putin, one person who has been directly named as implicated in offshore tax scandal is Ukraine's billionaire president, Petro Poroshenko.
This is what the ICIJ had to say about this specific involvement:
Via OrientalReview.org,
Earlier this month while delivering a public lecture in Kiev, “The Challenges of an Ever-Changing World,” former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an inspiring remark for anyone who might have been thinking that life in Ukraine was bad:
“You should go to Liberia where the standard of living is much lower, and then you will be thankful.”
Friday was the second anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
To mark the event, Vladimir Putin paid a visit to the island of Tuzla, where he checked in on a construction project aimed at bridging the Black Sea peninsula with the Russian mainland. The bridge, which is expected to cost somewhere in the neighborhood of €3 billion, will be the first direct link between Crimea and Russia and will span about 12 miles across the Kerch Strait.
Julia Ioffe talked to some Russian officials and experts about the silly idea that refusing to attack Syria in 2013 encouraged Russian intervention in Ukraine, and this is what they told her:
“Wow, it’s kind of a revelation what you just said,” said a very surprised source from the Russian Foreign Ministry, who was not authorized to speak on the record, on hearing the question. “It’s not tied to any kind of reality. These things are not connected to each other in any way.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to support Ukraine’s fight against Russia by helping Ukraine to take steps in removing Russian occupation. “Turkey did not recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea and is not going to do either,” Erdogan said in a joint press conference with Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko in Ankara. Fort-russ.com reports: According to him, Russia violated international law in this matter. “Mr President (of Turkey) supported the joint steps aimed at the de-occupation of Crimea.