Stephanie Baker | Oligarchs, Sanctions & The Global Economic War With Russia

Oct 22, 2024

In this conversation with journalist Stephanie Baker, who has spent nearly three decades covering business and politics, she shares insights from her book, *Punishing Putin*. Stephanie recounts her early experiences in 90s Moscow, including a chilling encounter at a murder scene. She discusses the chaotic rise of Russian oligarchs, the complexities of sanctions post-Ukraine invasion, and how Western businesses have navigated these turbulent waters. A deep dive into capital flight and the fascinating role of crypto in hiding wealth adds further intrigue to this gripping analysis of global economic warfare.

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Intro

00:00 • 3min

Journeys of a Reluctant Journalist

02:46 • 4min

Echoes of Perestroika: The Rise of Russian Oligarchs

06:30 • 11min

Exposing Corruption: The Fight for Justice in Russia

17:01 • 7min

Sanctions and Shadows: Navigating the Consequences of the Ukraine War

23:52 • 15min

Western Businesses in a Turbulent Russia

38:30 • 16min

Frozen Reserves and Geopolitical Maneuvering

54:43 • 6min

Oligarchs, Crypto, and the UAE

01:01:04 • 3min

The Intricacies of Offshore Finance and Capital Flight

01:04:29 • 2min

Oligarchs, Art, and Sanctions

01:06:03 • 16min

The Serendipitous Journey of a Business Reporter

01:21:40 • 2min

Stephanie Baker is a journalist whose been writing between the intersection of business and politics for almost 30 years with Bloomberg.

Stephanie's just published her first book and it is just amazing and the consequence of covering these topics for a lifetime. The network, the knowledge, the weird language of sanctions of financial opacity.

It’s a book about the global economic war with Russia post Ukrainian invasion. The fallout of the sanctions, why it has and hasn’t crippled the Russian economy as intended, and everything in and around Russian capital flight, Russian sanctions and the global economic war underwriting Russia's physical threat.

We start with Stephanies experience covering Russia from Moscow in the 90s, her stumbling across a murder scene and then between that and the book, Stephanie working as Christopher Hitchens fact checker at The Nation, the details behind putting a book like this together then the details about western businesses who withdrew substantial Russian operations, the oil markets chicanery to skirt sanctions, Oligarchs, Minigarchs, Euroclear and frozen Russian capital, what the sanctions did where they've been effective and where they haven’t and a whole lot more.

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Stephanie Baker - Punishing Putin

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00:00 - Who Is Stephanie Baker
03:21 - Moscow In The 90s & Fact Checking Christopher Hitchens
09:01 - How Oligarchs Were Created
17:07 - Hermitage Capital & Bill Browder
19:00 - Debut Book After 30 Years Of Journalism
27:46 - Economic Chaos From Sanctions
31:21 - Commodity Markets & Oil Chicanery
36:26 - Cannibalising Goods For Repurposing As Weapons
38:45 - McDonalds, Renault & Unilever Huge Russian Operations
54:50 - Euroclear's Role
1:00:11 - Capital Flight, Offshore Plumbing & Financial Opacity
1:20:16 - Liquid wealth of Putin
1:21:36 - The Role Of Serendipity In Stephanies Life

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