How European PR Firms Whitewash Brutal Regimes
A report released by Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), a research and campaign group, sheds light on how dictators and repressive regimes are paying European PR firms and lobbyists to push their agenda and mask their dire human rights records. The governments benefiting from this practice are Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the former Ukrainian government of Victor Yanukovych, Nigeria, Kenya, and Bangladesh.
The following is the section on Ukraine:
Key lobbyists: Alber & Geiger | Burson Marsteller (former contract) | European Centre for a Modern Ukraine Country’s Democracy Index position 2013: 85th
In November 2013 Ukraine was rocked by the Euromaiden revolution driven by then President Victor Yanukovych moving politically away from the EU, and an association agreement with Europe which had been in process, and towards Russia. The country was internally riven, as populations in the east were more pro-Russian, while many Ukrainians took to the streets to protest for closer ties with Europe and against the corruption of the Yanukovych government. According to Anders Aslund, an expert on the Ukraine at the Peterson Institute in Washington, the President and his cronies known as the ‘familia’ embezzled an estimated $8 to $10 billion a year after taking power in 2010. After months of civil disobedience and protests in which over 110 civilians were killed, in February 2014 Yanukovych fled the capital Kiev. Members of the Ukraine parliament set a May election date for his replacement.
The EU froze the assets of Yanukovych and other former elite regime members because of the systematic embezzlement of state funds. When he fled, Yanukovych left his absurdly opulent mansion in a 130 hectare estate with its own yacht club, cinema, golf course, and menagerie; the light fittings alone had cost €31 million. It has now been designated a ‘museum of corruption’. Those with their assets frozen by the EU are Yanukovych and his closest aides, including his son, former Prime Minister Azarov, Azarov’s son, and a former interior minister, justice minister, prosecutor general, and head of the security services, among others; in total 22 people. Azarov, Yanukovych and two others are now wanted by Interpol for embezzlement and other crimes. According to research by Ukrainian anti-corruption watchdogs and journalists, behind the seized property assets are a whole web of companies in Austria, Liechenstein, the UK, Switzerland, and offshore. EU sanctions mean that for example, Italy has frozen the assets of two villas in Sardinia valued at €3 million that belong to Oleksiy Azarov, the son of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov. Austria has frozen a company also owned by Azarov junior on suspicion of money laundering. However the EU is reported to be pursuing the cases very slowly. Azarov, who fled to Russia when the regime fell, and his son have employed Brussels law firm Alber and Geiger to unfreeze their assets. Alber and Geiger describes itself as, “A political lobbying powerhouse and the leading European government relations law firm.” According to the EU Observer, “Alber & Geiger… declined to disclose its fee, but PR industry sources in Brussels said the type of contract is worth ‘at least’ €80,000 a month.”
In total 14 of those targeted by sanctions, including Yanukovych and his sons, have filed a challenge to the sanctions in EU courts, though Alber and Geiger denies working for other regime members apart from the Azarovs. The effort by Alber and Geiger is not just a legal endeavour, but a PR one. Writing in the journal Euractiv, partner Andreas Geiger describes himself and his company as “white knights” coming to the rescue of persecuted former regime members in the Ukraine – such as Azarov and son, ‘victims’ of the Euromaidan revolution. Geiger writes, “In most people’s perception, these cases are somehow different from the Amnesty activist who gets beaten up by the police. This is because those people once were part of ‘the system’ themselves. But exactly for that reason, they often have to suffer even more from persecution and intimidation by their political enemy who is now in charge, culminating in fake allegations by the system that toppled them.”
Geiger’s is a kind of Alice Through the Looking Glass moral universe, where the real victims of the revolution are those who have been toppled, not the people who faced repression and the snipers’ bullets. This is where Geiger as the ‘White knight’ steps in. Remember though, that in the Alice books, the white knight character is a haphazard fighter who travels backwards in order to go forwards.
“Lobbying firms are, therefore, increasingly working to defend the human rights of former politicians and businessmen that find themselves in such a situation. And rightfully so. These people need a ‘White Knight’ to lobby their legitimate interests in places like Washington and Brussels.” He finishes by suggesting that this is a growing area of business – presumably he foresees there will be more toppled elites to defend from future revolutions? The EU Observer reports that diplomats revealed the identities of Alber and Geiger’s clients are Azarov and his son, because Alber and Geiger sent a letter on their behalf to the EU Council the day the sanctions entered into force on 5 March 2014. The firm sent another note three weeks later with “points for consideration”; and a similar letter to all 28 EU countries’ Brussels embassies; as well as approaching MEP British Conservative Charles Tannock on the subject. Andreas Geiger of Alber and Geiger said, “We are going to say [to the EU Council]: ‘Look. You’ve got the wrong people and you’ve got no legal basis, so please take them off the list.’ And if they reject this, we’ll take them to court.”
Smear campaigns and the Count of Monte Cristo
Before the Ukrainian regime was toppled, in early 2012 Yanukovych’s ruling party employed Burson Marsteller in Brussels to run a smear campaign against Yulia Tymoshenko, a political opponent who had been jailed in 2011 for seven years. Amnesty International stated, “The prosecution against Yuliya Tymoshenko is politically motivated. The charges against her are not internationally recognizable offences,” and called for her release. It was in part the EU’s insistence on her release as part of the political association and trade pact that pushed Yanukovych into refusing to sign and moving towards Russia instead, thus triggering the unrest in Ukraine that eventually unseated him. Tymoshenko said she was beaten by prison guards while in jail, and went on hunger strike in protest. A senior manager at Burson Marsteller, Robert Mack, told the EU Observer: “Our brief is to help the PoR [Party of Regions] communicate its activities as the governing party of Ukraine, as well as to help it explain better its position on the Yulia Tymoshenko case.” This included organising press interviews with the Ukrainian Deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin when he visited Brussels. Kuzmin, friendly with the ruling party, had already accused Tymoshenko of involvement in a contract killing in the 1990s raising questions about his neutrality.
A Senior Associate in Burson Marsteller UK’s Corporate and Crisis Practice, Anna Richardson is listed in a profile on the company website as a “rising star” in the PR industry. The profile is dated 22 November 2013, three months before the Ukrainian revolution, and says: “She works directly with Ukraine’s prime minister [ie Azarov], foreign affairs minister and deputy energy minister, as well as other leaders.” Her tweets about Ukraine stopped abruptly as her client was toppled.
Prime Policy Group, the public affairs branch of Burson Marsteller which works out of both Washington and Brussels, is said by journal Intelligence Online to have “campaigned to the bitter end for the government of Viktor Yanukovich” on behalf of Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, Yanukovych’s “long standing and loyal supporter who is said to be the richest man in Ukraine.” Prime Policy Group is headed by Charlie Black who in the past set up a political consulting firm with Paul Manafort. (Incidentally, their political consulting firm Black, Manafort and Stone’s clients included a roster of dictators and strongmen including Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, and Jonas Savimbi of Angola, as well as the state of Equatorial Guinea.) Nicknamed
‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ Paul Manafort is a US political fixer who orchestrated Yanukovych’s election campaign. His company, Davis Manafort was already doing work for the Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov. According to Politico, “It was a “political love connection” as “the former Ukrainian PM and Manafort, the Georgetowneducated son of a Connecticut politician, hit it off.” Manafort could have been in a position to introduce Black to Akhmetov, hence the Burson Marsteller connection.
Brussels front group with budgetary anomalies
In 2012 a think tank called the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine (ECFMU) was created in Brussels. Ostensibly it exists to “provide information about political life in Ukraine and the fulfilment of the country’s aspirations for European integration”. However, a closer look reveals that despite its pro-Europe name the ECFMU had ties with Yanukovych and his Party of Regions. Its deeds of incorporation in 2012 show that former Minister of Foreign Affairs Leonid Kozhara was the Chair, soon to be replaced by Oleksiy Plotnikov who was another leading party member of Yanukovych’s. The head of ECFMU is Ina Kirsh, married to Rob Van de Water, who according to his LinkedIn profile, is former adviser to the ousted Prime Minister Azarov (and currently adviser to the Prime Minister of Malta).
Also according to his LinkedIn profile he was a “political advisor” in the European Parliament to the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group until September 2012. An investigation by Sergiy Leschenko in the Ukrainian Pravda, found that Rob Van de Water was the Vice Chair of Sergei Klyuyev’s foundation, a financial backer of Yanukovych. Sergei Klyuyev’s brother was Yanukovych’s Chief of Staff Andrei Klyuyev, alleged to have ordered the firing on protesters in Kiev, leading to the eventual collapse of the regime.
In the US, ECMFU hired Podesta Group and Mercury, to the tune of $1.97million to lobby for the Yanukovych regime, and against the release of Tymoshenko. Not bad for a Brussels-based group that in 2013 claimed an expenditure of a mere €10,000 in the EU lobbying register.
New Ukraine Government – unsavoury alliances?
Svoboda, the far right party with a presence in the new Ukrainian Government, opened offices in Brussels in 2013 in order to “spread among the European community truthful information about the programmatic principles and operations of the Svoboda party. It will aim to refute any slander and defamation in relation to the party. In addition, we will establish contacts with the European Parliament, the European Commission, the parliamentary Assembly of NATO and other European institutions”. The move was welcomed by Belgian far right MEP Philip Claeys.
