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dalton99a

(81,515 posts) Sat Feb 26, 2022, 10:53 AM Feb 2022

US lobbying firms rush to cut ties with Russian businesses hit with sanctions

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/26/politics/lobbying-firms-russian-businesses-sanctions-invs/index.html

US lobbying firms rush to cut ties with Russian businesses hit with sanctions
By Casey Tolan, Curt Devine and Daniel A. Medina, CNN
Updated 8:05 AM ET, Sat February 26, 2022

(CNN) In the years leading up to Russia's attack on Ukraine, US lobbyists have raked in millions of dollars from Russian banks and financial firms paying to push their interests in Washington.

Now, in the wake of the Russian invasion and new sanctions announced by President Joe Biden, many of those lobbying firms are rushing to cut ties and drop their lucrative contracts.

At least six lobbying firms that previously represented now-sanctioned Russian banks and companies tied to a Russian natural gas pipeline terminated their contracts or representation this week, according to statements and federal lobbying disclosures.

The exodus marks the rupture of a Moscow-to-K-Street conduit that has long employed former federal officials and members of Congress of both parties, experts said.

"For anybody that's representing a Russian entity in Washington, DC, it's an uphill climb ... that has just gotten a lot steeper," said Benjamin Freeman, a research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a foreign policy think tank, who has written a book on foreign influence. "It's going to be hard to find a sympathetic ear for any of these Russian clients on the Hill right now."