“we should acknowledge the simple fact that, in economic terms, Russia matters much more to the EU than it does to the US, and that the EU matters to Russia much more than the US does to Russia.” In this episode, Justine is joined by George Voloshin, corporate intelligence expert and ACAMS CGSS instructor, in which they discuss Russian-EU trade and considerations for entities with Russian exposure. George provides a detailed overview of the dynamics of Russia and the EU’s economic relationship, including energy dependency, and talks to the difficulties of ascertaining ownership and control and conducting due diligence on high profile Russian business people of corporations, as well as what companies need to think about to prepare for a potential worst-case scenario. George is the Head of Paris Branch, Aperio Intelligence, having joined the firm in December 2016. Prior to joining Aperio, George headed the Russia/CIS coverage at a leading French corporate intelligence firm and previously collaborated with a number of UK-based advisory and analytical organisations as well as government clients. He is the author of two books on the geopolitics of Central Asia and over a hundred articles on international affairs, with a focus on Russia and the former Soviet Union which are the primary areas of his specialisation. You can read George’s full bio at: https://www.aperio-intelligence.com/team/george-voloshin/