Sanctions – Page 2 – KCS Group Asia Ltd

Iran: A sorry state

Articles / Cyber-attacks, Due Diligence, Iran, Middle East, Russia, Sanctions, Terrorism / 04/2023

Failed states are those unable to maintain economic or political credibility and in a virtual state of collapse, incapable to fulfil the functions of a national executive. Rogue states are those openly funding and supporting action with extreme prejudice that goes against the social contract of the supposedly peaceful world order and which thus choose [...]

Iran: A sorry state Read More »

Russian cold wars: It’s all Greek to me

Articles / black money, Due Diligence, Greece, oil and gas, Oligarchs, Russia, Sanctions / 04/2023

Timeo danaos et dona ferentes, runs the ancient maxim: Beware of Greeks bearing gifts. Today, we might update this to cavete a Graecis navibus navigantes – beware of Greeks sailing ships. Lloyds List has exposed, over the past six months, a fleet of tankers, registered in/owned by Greece and conducting operations in the waters of

Russian cold wars: It’s all Greek to me Read More »

Divide and conquer: The Kremlin’s gambit

Articles / Corruption, Due Diligence, Kremlin, Oligarchs, Putin, Russia, Sanctions, Sergei Shoigu, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Yuri Kovalchuk / 03/2023

Petrov’s Defence, known popularly as the Russian Game, is a chess opening based around symmetry: the second player matching the moves of the first through pawn, knight and so on, in a game that has a reputation for leading to protracted, difficult draws unless a player can seize upon a momentary advantage that may come

Divide and conquer: The Kremlin’s gambit Read More »

Getting all your ducks in a row

Articles / compliance, Due Diligence, Know Your Customer, Russia, Sanctions / 03/2023

The environment for winning and retaining business has rarely been more challenging. Most prominently, in geo-political terms, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the knock-on effects on politics and economies worldwide. In addition, the rising tensions between China and Taiwan, an escalated war of words and ideology between various delineations of ‘East’ and ‘West’, and

Getting all your ducks in a row Read More »

The magic black money tree

Articles / black money, Corruption, Due Diligence, money-laundering, Russia, Sanctions / 02/2023

While walking through the edge of Utah’s Fishlake Forest, it is possible to cross over 100 acres and simultaneously pass forty thousand trees, and just one. This is because the colony of Pando Aspen trunks (‘I spread’) share a single underground root system, with each apparently individual tree simply being part of a larger, hidden,

The magic black money tree Read More »

Belgium and Russia: More than a Mere footnote?

Articles / Belgium, China, Due Diligence, Europe, Russia, Sanctions / 11/2022

The death of Russian budget supermarket, Mere, in Belgium, just four months after opening can be read either as a cautionary tale of stunningly misreading the public mood on the part of the owners or a surprise that, given the strength of public feeling across Europe to Russian business, it took so long. Either way,

Belgium and Russia: More than a Mere footnote? Read More »

A finishing move?

Articles / Due Diligence, Putin, Russia, Sanctions, Ukraine / 10/2022

If modern Russia’s past was solidified by one mobilisation, its future may yet hang on another. Putin has broken yet a further promise to the Russian people and announced the first mobilisation draft since the Second World War (or the ‘Great Patriotic War’ according to Moscow), a tacit admission that the war is going badly;

A finishing move? Read More »

The luxuries of avoiding sanctions

Articles, Russia Ukraine Conflict / Due Diligence, Fraud, Organised crime, Russia, Sanctions / 07/2022

Global sanctions on Russia continue apace, and there are rare admissions from within the country that these are working. Transport Minister, Vitaly Savelyev, has indicated that current trade logistics have been ‘virtually wrecked’, and the news that McDonalds and Starbucks are to permanently leave the country is, to the ordinary Russian, just as disappointing as

The luxuries of avoiding sanctions Read More »

Justice is Swift?

Articles, Russia Ukraine Conflict / Cybercrime, DueDiligence, Economy, Russia, Sanctions / 06/2022

A question: if money makes the world go round, what happens when one country is no longer ‘in the money’? Just as when a moving tectonic plate hits a stationary one: collision. For three months now, the world has been attempting to cut Russia off from a variety of global financial capabilities and services, intended

Justice is Swift? Read More »

System failure?

Articles, Russia Ukraine Conflict / Corruption, Cybercrime, Putin, Russian Business, Sanctions / 04/2022

While Vladimir Putin’s daughters may not lose much sleep over their inclusion on the latest sanctions list, the fact that they are on it at all speaks to just how wide an effort has been made to push back against Russia as a result of the war. But equally, the fact that it has come

System failure? Read More »

Cookie	Duration	Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional	11 months	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy	11 months	The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.