{"id":66304,"date":"2024-03-01T19:35:13","date_gmt":"2024-03-01T19:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/anti-zelenskyy-telecoms-company-boss-deletes-account-to-hide-russia-links-daily-times\/"},"modified":"2024-03-01T19:35:13","modified_gmt":"2024-03-01T19:35:13","slug":"anti-zelenskyy-telecoms-company-boss-deletes-account-to-hide-russia-links-daily-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/anti-zelenskyy-telecoms-company-boss-deletes-account-to-hide-russia-links-daily-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-Zelenskyy telecoms company boss deletes account to hide Russia links – Daily Times"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A <\/span><\/span>senior executive of <\/span><\/span>UK Telecoms provider <\/span><\/span>RETN Capital <\/span><\/span>has <\/span><\/span>deactivated his Twitter account after an investigation found that his firm has <\/span><\/span>been awarded Russian state contracts from agencies controlled by sanctioned individuals, including an ally of Vladimir Putin<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The investigation by the Telegraph newspaper established that <\/span><\/span>Arvid<\/span><\/span> Trolle<\/span><\/span>, who is partner and co-founder of <\/span><\/span>Njord<\/span><\/span> Partners LLP, used his Twitter account full time <\/span><\/span>to run anti-Ukrainian propaganda on social media. The propaganda that <\/span><\/span>Arvid<\/span><\/span> Trolle<\/span><\/span> ran backed the Russian narrative. Since the investigation came out and was published worldwide, <\/span><\/span>Arvid<\/span><\/span> Trolle<\/span><\/span> has taken off his social media account to make it inaccessible. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

RETN Capital, which provides services across Europe, <\/span><\/span>claims to have<\/span><\/span> limited its exposure to Russia since the invasion of Ukraine and complied with sanctions, but i<\/span><\/span>nstead its revenue from the country has rocketed since the war began, partly driven by<\/span><\/span> contracts<\/span><\/span> from sanctioned state entities, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The investigation found that <\/span><\/span>Arvid<\/span><\/span> Trolle<\/span><\/span> \u2013 <\/span><\/span>the co-owner of RETN\u2019s primary institutional investor, <\/span><\/span>Njord<\/span><\/span> Partners \u2013 \u00a0was posting content on X (formerly Twitter) attacking Ukraine and President Zelensky using his account https:\/\/twitter.com\/arvidherluf.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

One <\/span><\/span>repost<\/span><\/span> stated: \u201cUkraine has always been a very dodgy place, run by friends of the globalists like Hunter <\/span><\/span>Bider<\/span><\/span> where incredibly shifty s*** goes on\u201d.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Trolle<\/span><\/span> also reposted: \u201cWhy is no one stating the obvious? Zelensky has regime-ending dirt on Biden and other Western leaders who have used Ukraine as their corruption playground for decades.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Trolle<\/span><\/span>, a former Oaktree Capital executive who donated \u00a320,000 to Conservative MP <\/span><\/span>Priti<\/span><\/span> Patel when she was UK Home Secretary, also posted conspiracy theories on his X account, the Telegraph reported.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Trolle\u2019s<\/span><\/span> partner at <\/span><\/span>Njord<\/span><\/span> Partners, Jakob <\/span><\/span>Kjellberg<\/span><\/span>, is currently the Chairman of RETN<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/arvidherluf<\/span><\/span><\/a> is no more available and a source at X confirmed the account was deactivated after RETN\u2019s Russia secret links were exposed and <\/span><\/span>Arvid<\/span><\/span> Trolle\u2019s<\/span><\/span> campaign in support of the Russian regime and against the <\/span><\/span>Ukrain<\/span><\/span> were revealed. Russia has launched a brutal war on Ukraine for over two years, killing thousands of innocent locals. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A repost of anti-Ukrainian propaganda (<\/span><\/span>left,centre<\/span><\/span>) by <\/span><\/span>Arvid<\/span><\/span>Trolle<\/span><\/span> (far right) on X <\/span><\/span>in <\/span><\/span>November 2022<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

RETN\u2019s wholly owned Russian subsidiary received contracts from state entities which have been sanctioned since the war in Ukraine, according to Interfax-Spark, a database of official contracts.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In December 2022, RETN\u2019s Russian arm won a contract with the Kurchatov Institute, a Russian state-controlled aviation research agency which is sanctioned by the UK and US. Its general director Mikhail Kovalchuk and his brother <\/span><\/span>Yury<\/span><\/span>, a close ally of President Putin, are subject to sanctions by the UK, Canada and Ukraine.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Yuri Kovalchuk, Putin ally<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Two months later RETN was awarded a contract with the Russian State Enterprise Fuel and Energy Complex of St Petersburg \u2013 known as GUP TEK. Both GUP TEK and its general director, Ivan <\/span><\/span>Boltenkov<\/span><\/span>, are sanctioned by Ukraine.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

RETN\u2019s ties with the Russian state and sanctioned agencies are also apparent in the company\u2019s 2022 financial statements, the newspaper reported. One of the main customers of RETN\u2019s Russian subsidiary is PJSC <\/span><\/span>Rostelecom<\/span><\/span>, which is partially state-owned. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Russian subsidiary is also a client of the Russian bank <\/span><\/span>Rosbank<\/span><\/span>. Both <\/span><\/span>Rosbank<\/span><\/span> and <\/span><\/span>Rostelecom<\/span><\/span> are sanctioned by the West and Ukraine.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There are also questions over the current ownership of RETN Partners, after i<\/span><\/span>ts<\/span><\/span> major shareholdings<\/span><\/span> were moved around<\/span><\/span> following the <\/span><\/span>full-scale<\/span><\/span> invasion<\/span><\/span> of Ukraine<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Until January 2021, the largest <\/span><\/span>individual <\/span><\/span>beneficial <\/span><\/span>shareholder of RETN Capital was Polina <\/span><\/span>Maltseva<\/span><\/span>, the daughter<\/span><\/span> of Anatoly <\/span><\/span>Danilit<\/span><\/span>sky<\/span><\/span>, a former Russian diplomat and executive director of the Russian National Reserve Corporation<\/span><\/span>. \u00a0<\/span><\/span>Danilitsky<\/span><\/span> was also previously the chairman of RETN\u2019s Russian subsidiary.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The UK High Court once declared <\/span><\/span>Maltseva<\/span><\/span> to be a proxy for her father\u2019s financial interests. \u00a0She acquired her stake in RETN in 2016, shortly after her father resigned as chairman of its subsidiary.<\/span><\/span> \u00a0After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, <\/span><\/span>Maltseva\u2019s<\/span><\/span> stake in RETN was transferred to <\/span><\/span>Ann<\/span><\/span>a<\/span><\/span> Tindl<\/span><\/span>, a <\/span><\/span>German<\/span><\/span> lawyer based in Vienna, Austria.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Tindl<\/span><\/span> is also now a director of RETN<\/span><\/span>, but unlike <\/span><\/span>Kjellberg<\/span><\/span> she does not appear on its website.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The slick public face of RETN (left) and the Russian oligarch whose daughter acted as a proxy (right)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n