Sir Bill Browder on Trump's betrayal of Ukraine

To call Trump's actions on Ukraine "betrayal" is strong language but I think it is justified.

Not because he is trying to seek a diplomatic solution to a terrible war but because he is putting maximum diplomatic pressure on Ukraine and little on Russia when the leader of every state which is a permanent member of he UN Security council has a moral obligation to put maximum pressure on Russia and help Ukraine get peace with security.

When the Soviet empire broke up, the world's third largest nuclear arsenal was on Ukrainian territory. All the members of the UN Security council were deeply concerned about this. All put pressure on the four successor states which inherited Soviet nuclear weapons to ensure they were destroyed or handed to Russia in exchange for security guarantees. The security assurances given by China and France were not as strong as those signed by Russia, the USA and Britain in the "Budapest Memorandum" but all gave them.

Bill Browder is one of my heroes. He has fought against corruption, and in response the Putin regime has spent years falsely labeling him a criminal and trying to get Interpol to serve fraudulent arrest warrants on him. His courage was rewarded by the UK government with a knighthood in the King's birthday honours list 2024.

Outstanding contributions by British nationals abroad recognised on King’s Birthday 2024 Overseas and International honours list - GOV.UK

Here Nick Cohen, one of the select group of left-wingers for whom I have considerable respect. interviews Bill Browder for a recent Lowdown podcast.

Nick Cohen and Sir Bill Browder discuss Browder's experiences with Russian corruption and Putin's regime. Browder shared how he ran a successful investment fund in Russia in the 1990s exposing corporate corruption, but faced expulsion in 2005 and later the murder of his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in 2009 after investigating a $230 million tax fraud.

Sir Bill described the challenges of pursuing justice for Magnitsky, including being sentenced to 18 years in prison in absentia, facing multiple libel lawsuits that cost him over £600,000, and being targeted by Russian authorities through Interpol notices.

Sir Bill and Nick discuss how Britain's approach toward Russia changed dramatically after Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with Browder noting the UK's evolution from being reluctant to act on Russian corruption to becoming a leader in sanctions against Russia. They also discuss Trump's lifting of sanctions on Russian diesel and Browder's analysis that this was part of a deal where Trump pressured Ukraine to stop attacking Russian oil refineries in exchange for the diesel deal. 

Sir Bill says Ukraine was well on the way to obliterating Russia's diesel refining capacity until a desperate Putin essentially begged Trump to intercede on his behalf. The recently announced disgraceful - and illegal under U.S. law - diesel deal between the U.S. and Russia will do nothing to lower pump prices for American but makes it tricky for Ukraine to continue targeting refineries. As far as Trump is concerned, Sir Bill says the venal U.S. president simply sees Ukraine and Russia as providing further grifting opportunities for him and his greedy family.

Sir Bill Browder expresses optimism about the U.S. surviving Trump, and as a democracy, ultimately addressing the current rampant corruption in government, comparing the current situation to a "fever" that would eventually break and lead to justice, while acknowledging that more Ukrainian suffering would likely occur in the meantime.



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