#Alfagate
For 15 months of the war, neither Petr Aven nor Mikhail Fridman has found the time to clearly and unequivocally condemn Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, the Kremlin oligarchs have been investing significant funds to escape sanctions. One of the lobbyists they hired is Pavel Ivlev, a Russian lawyer and U.S. citizen, who can be seen at almost every opposition conference and forum held in the West.
In March 2022, »Meduza» published a programmatic interview with Pavel Ivlev, presenting him as one of the authors of the ‘Magnitsky List’ and a compiler of sanction lists related to the war with Ukraine. However, the lengthy interview provides no specific facts about his activities. Even regarding his involvement in compiling the ‘Magnitsky List,’ Pavel Ivlev did not provide a substantial response: «I was involved in this. I was one of those people who, alongside Bill Browder, pushed for the Magnitsky Act.
The interviewer seemed didn’t care about the specifics. Pavel Ivlev’s visit to Klauģū muiža was captured on tape two months later. At Petr Aven’s Latvian villa, the first monetary tranche was handed over to mark the beginning of covert lobbying activities to lift sanctions.
This March, a senior research researcher at the Free Russia Foundation (Washington), who leads the Eurasian kleptocracy research project ‘Podryvateli.info,’ posted on his Facebook page:
„In December 2022, a close contact from a partner NGO reported that Pavel Ivlev, a former lawyer for Yukos, approached them with brazen questions and proposals regarding me and Alpha Group. Initially, he tried to convince the NGO that he had «fired Zaslavsky» for poor performance at the Institute of Modern Russia and wanted to ensure that the NGO had also fired me for the same reason. He then proposed that the NGO sign letters in support of Alfa and promised substantial financial assistance.
Why Ivlev chose to tarnish his reputation so much, I can only speculate. He has some projects in Latvia where he is trying to preserve Aven’s citizenship—perhaps that’s the reason, but I’m not sure. The NGO politely declined, and he then received a call from my lawyers, during which he became nervous and hung up before hearing about the legal consequences of such underhanded attempts to gather compromising material.
As far as I know, Ivlev is now a persona non grata among his former like-minded colleagues. The most despicable thing is that I never had direct dealings with Ivlev at the IMR. During his time there, I conducted several studies on convictions without any payment. Specifically, with Volodya Kara-Murza and others, we attended a conference in Boston in 2013 under the IMR (Ivlev also arrived later), where I first presented my forecast from a major report that the export of corruption from Russia would lead the West to the most serious security problems”.
A collaborative letter to the European Commission was first made known in March 2023. Well-known Russian journalists and opposition figures called for the lifting of sanctions on the leaders of the ‘Alpha Group,’ particularly Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven. Following the publication of this document, opposition member Leonid Volkov announced his resignation as chairman of the board of ACF International (Anti-Corruption Foundation, FBK), stating that he had signed the appeal in a personal capacity without informing his colleagues.
According to sources, Pavel Ivlev contacted Leonid Volkov in Vilnius, and not just contacted, but handed over a significant amount of money allocated by Petr Aven.
In Latvia, Pavel Ivlev owns the law firm ‘Feldmans’ (turnover for 2022 — 53 thousand euros). Interestingly, he remains the founder of the Moscow law company «ALM-Feldmans»
Pavel Ivlev also serves on the ‘KRES Poliskola’ board. He also owns property on Bulduru Prospekts 51 in Jurmala, where he and his wife Ekaterina spend the summers. However, he loves to go with his mistress to various Russian opposition forums, fusing, as they say, business with pleasure.
In particular, he arrived at the human rights conference in memory of lawyer and dissident Yuri Schmidt with his mistress Vlada Makeychik, as recorded by our source.
In the ‘Sanctions’ section of the Berlin conference chat, Pavel Ivlev wrote: ‘Good morning everyone! I am ready to work as a legal expert on a voluntary basis if my experience and knowledge are needed. I have been dealing with sanctions against Russia and Russians since 2011, when we began lobbying for the US Magnitsky Act, which was adopted in 2012. Currently, I continue to practice as a lawyer in the field of individual sanctions, both for including new individuals and for lifting sanctions from those who deserve it.
It seems like Pavel Ivlev continues to lobby for the interests of the Kremlin oligarchs.
TRIGGER 