This much is clear: the Panama Papers are going to shine a hard light on post-Soviet democracy. Last night’s simultaneous revelation of offshore accounts and companies linked to the rulers of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine is unprecedented in its confirmation of what we’ve suspected and possessed partial information of for years — how authoritarian elites in the post-Soviet space are using the UK’s deregulated financial system to hide billions of dollars.
The following question, among many, emerges — what do these leaks tell us about the trajectories these countries have travelled since transition? Clearly, the past 25 years have witnessed the potential for a democratic future slip violently away from many post-Soviet societies’ grasp. But what was less clear is the British state’s role as a key actor in that disenfranchisement.
This money, in direct and indirect forms, has been a constituent part of how domestic media and financial sectors have been reshaped in favour of ruling elites in the post-Soviet space. The UK’s domestic political settlement is thus inextricably linked to unfair and unfree states, and Russia, to take one example, is another player in the global neoliberal game.
