British journalist Shaun Walker traveled three hours out of Moscow to the town of Kimry to find out why most Russians just don't care whether President Vladimir Putin is corrupt or not.
Outside the liberal online bubble of the politically active, most Russians who have heard about the Panama disclosures remain unmoved by them. When TV Rain, an independent channel, questioned Muscovites in the city’s White Square business district, many said it was quite normal for people to help out their friends, and that they didn’t see anything wrong with the president keeping some money to one side.
In Kimry, people are not so much approving as resigned to the idea. “Look, I don’t know what the point of making all these accusations and stirring up trouble is,” said Yaroslav, a 42-year-old factory worker. “So what if Putin is corrupt? There are two types of rulers: good corrupt rulers and bad corrupt rulers. At least Putin is trying to do good for the country.”
As we reported earlier this week, it was revealed by the Panama Papers that the law firm Mossack Fonseca sometimes used the name of the International Red Cross as a beneficiary of its shell companies in order to lend them prestige. Now the Red Cross has responded.
Although these arrangements were made completely unbeknownst to the Red Cross, the records pose a very serious reputational threat to the international non-profit, as well as a real physical threat to its staff. The ICRC spokesperson Claire Kaplun expressed these concerns very well in her interview with the Associated Press:
“We work in conflict zones. We work without weapons. Our protection is our name, our emblem, the faith that people have in our reputation. Let’s say this money was linked to a warring party in a conflict. Imagine what consequences that could have.”