station next on d, w. a over rich and home, the force, i'm assuming that a valley that the last dragons in this world had called to home for 2 years. you books on ah, hitting russia, the leaks in the pocket, switzerland secretive banking system as long helped wealthy russians to hide that money and to make more of it now. the swiss to join in the international assault russian find london has also served in as an oligarchy. playground with russians, owing owning billions in property. that is the party found to be over in london to

and europe. big businesses are coming to terms with war on their doorstep. we'll hear from the chairman of siemens energy, joe kaiser. i'm robot in berlin, and welcome to this d to be a business special, financial sanctions isolating russia's backs. now it was perhaps the toughest sanction the west has levied against russia, around 70 percent of its banks and financial institutions have been cut off from swished the system used by banks to send money across borders. it's moved that impact has reached well beyond russia itself. many banks in the united states, the european union, i'm united kingdom have given loans to russian firms who can now no longer service them. it's unclear exactly how much banks have learned to russian companies, but experts put the number in the 10s of billions of yours. then there is the potential for sovereign debts, default rushes until bank can't access its assets abroad and its own course to miss

re payments to its creditors. now russia currently owes nearly $50000000000.00 to lenders in the west. payments are also due within the next 2 weeks, one for a $100000000.00 in interest. another one over $2000000000.00 among the countries levying sanctions on russia is switzerland. it's an unprecedented step for the neutral country that plays a key role in the financial world. but some critics say it hasn't gone far enough. do ratio. one of the world's most expensive places, and that's in no small part due to russian. oligarchs happy to invest their money here. rudolph, elma, used to be a tough banker at the venerable bank jojo spare. today he is a critic of these financial institutions who came to international prominence as a wiki leaks whistleblower in the try to gain the enclave while a lot of money is invested in switzerland. because banking secrecy protects the oligarchs. we have

a strict secrecy law game hall to discuss the government politicians and the judiciary support this because it is a huge source of income for this, with a date for you, then try to stop. russia's brutal war against ukraine has put world wide pressure on switzerland to respond. it's likely one of the reasons why the government here has backed the sanctions saying russian oligarchs should no longer be able to access their assets here. but elmer is skeptical until we'll leave a hotmail to which linda was slow to introduce sanctions. and that keep the old guard plenty of time to shift their fortune somewhere else, concealing the origin of money as a long tradition in switzerland, homes. poverty can this means that the actual owner is disguised via trusts in the cayman islands or companies or whatever in such a way that you don't really know who's behind on the spice. christine, the swiss bankers association rejects the accusation, saying the sanctions would be strictly observed. if you stick to which day it's

important to understand that these sanctions obliged banks to report russian customers to the your thirties is what i'm thinking. secrecy is never absolute. it can be affected by a legal obligation to provide information. and that is also the case with these sanctions. because it's concrete. you parties, in fact, on small sam alcohol, russia, gas from bank and spare bank, seen here in series are exempt from the sanctions. that allows you, countries like germany to still be able to buy russian oil and gas through them. but public criticism is growing spare by considering his cupboard over its logo and lowered window blinds for fear of protests. the swiss n g o public eye has long criticised the russian banks, and now it says they are playing a critical role in moscow's war is not to do this is, of course, a substantial part of bloody amir puting, this war chest cooking. he calculated it that way from the start. how could you and

also anticipated that this money, at least, would continue to flow. we're talking about a $1000000000.00 a day, 80 percent of which comes from swiss commodities trading platforms. said one of the data centers for the swift bank payment system is very close to 0. it's currently under a heavy guard for fear of russian sabotage. but elma doesn't think our complete russian cut off from swift would be that dramatic for russia is keep received an american sky. there are various ways of getting around this, like inter company deal. the banks holding bank accounts with other banks and trade shortcuts as well as barter transactions house because there are many variants and you have to see that this payment transaction business has become even more lucrative all day due to the sanctions of contact on rudolph alamo. now lives in seclusion near sir ish, but he hasn't stopped criticizing switzerland's, financial institutions and authorities. he's demanding strict laws for better

monitoring of the financial center. but so far says he see no willingness in the government to take action. let's get more on that story. i've been speaking to you of rock hall, who's president of the european school of management and technology, s empty berlin. i asked him how surprising it was that switzerland had joined the you in sanctioning russia. the fact that switzerland joined be just representing the overall observation that we have at this point of time, that there's such a strong unified approach across west and countries that no one could escape. and in particular, we've seen in the past, but any back the 5 weeks cave base or convent sanction has been penalized heavily by, in particular us authorities. so therefore, it might be a little bit surprising, but in light of your development and also in vital what we see as tells you the path is maybe not that pricing. is it

a big blow to the russian banking system to have the sanctions from switzerland, in particular, given the role that it plays with it's much stricter secrecy laws. this is certainly a blog, russian bangs, but maybe it's even more a blow in the asset management part. so this means, well, the russians put their money now and they are sanctioned as well. swiss banks are extremely careful in now operating on the level with any rational clients. and thus it becomes more difficult to withdraw private money with the father purposes sort of change though could last for a long time. what, what, what was the feeling with the sanctions that they going to be in place forever? and russians apparently have to find a new way to move that money around, and indeed move their exports and the 2 elements for so i would

expect the sanctions to be in place for the, for the future. but there's another aspect, and maybe this aspect might become more important. so in the long run, which is the voltage by feet mechanism that we see. now, we've seen that many western companies, even companies that we're not restricted to do so by the sanctions. they actually thought it was drawing their business from russia that also western companies don't want to work anymore, which was said, russian subsidiaries in europe in the united states. and this voting by feet as taking really a very massive, a very strong movement of the last 2 weeks. and this is something that, in my view, has not seen the as yet, but rather will continue. and then it would be very hard to reverse this decision in particular. we see now if the russian government even wants to nationalize to expropriate the assets, that's western companies have less left in russia. yeah, it's made a change for russia that keeps getting worse because it keeps getting more and more

isolated from the rest of the world. and indeed it's looking less and less likely the rush is going to be able to pay its debts to its foreign creditors. default look, so almost certain doesn't it? yes, indeed, the rating agencies have now made very clear statements that russian sovereign debts is at john status. both who not clear any more, whether even if russia did have the money, whether they would be willing to pay so that they basically voluntary to be they are all. this is why the more of the linkages of the international financial systems to russia will be stopped. and it will even isolate russia more in many different ways. and the financial system is certainly a product of his best way for action. yeah, that's what i'm interested to now, actually worked as

a country defaulting on its debts like russia seems about to what actually look like, what happens it would basically mean that russia wouldn't pay back the balance in particular have part, it wouldn't pay the interest that would be due at western creditors, and that basically would mean that western credit us would have to write off the claims they still have to rush out for a given the overall exposure. we currently see this seems to be manageable. this is what we can see from the statements of the major banking representative that they think the situation is different from what it used to be in the european depth crisis, for example, was the sovereign of greece. but it just shows that the kids will be really stopped for now, and therefore also might be very hard to restore the call. next couple of yes.

so i really are going to see is a knock on effects from the sanctions while beyond russia, you rocco, from the european school of management and technology. thank you so much for being on the program. now, the ukranian president for la them is lensky. ers, the u. k, to do more to hurt russia financially when he addressed the british parliament this week, london is seen as a key front in the economic basso with large amounts of russian money flowing through the u. k. capital each year. but could it be about to shed its reputation as an oligarchs playground from their big master pals? we have an appointment at the ritz, one of the swankiest addresses in london with build browder. he was once one of russia's top foreign born investors, but quickly became an opponent flooded me put in before being expelled from the country. he is now living in london and has one of the kremlin st biggest critics. britain has been

a m. a soft spot for dirty russian money for last 20 years. they've come here. ah, they, they like the rule of law. they like the property rights. and they like the fact that nobody's going to ask any questions. we're heading to the posh district of burg ravia to eat and square, nicknamed red square, asking prices for a 5 bedroom flat here, which over $20000000.00 euros. as for who the real owners are. no one needs to know anti corruption activists estimate that russians with ties to putin have invested almost 2000000000 euros and real estate alone. in recent years. there are shelves, shell companies, and trusts in an offshore rocephin nominees and proxies. all i'm working hard to shield the true ownership of these properties. it's on the capital, a nickname, london road. a city

a wash with money from the many rich russians who call it home. and not all of them have earned income. honestly. this week, the british parliament is passing a new law to cut the corrupt flow of money from russia to untangle opaque ownership stretches. but this is only a 1st step. experts say, legislation is just not enough. enforcement needs to be happen and it needs to be properly research funded on whistles. what happens right now is that the national crime agencies has been on the funded for up a generation. so what we need to see now is for life with many does, is to be funded to act now and use a tool that they are even at the moment. so the security personnel on eton square try to prevent us from recording. if i, when you're talking to her, mom is a democracy and we, despite us having the right to film on the street to sound if you include up to you can. but we can throw mostly like 1st and foremost, i'd like to see 100 all a guards on the sanctions list having their properties frozen the secondly,

i'd like to see assets identified and frozen after that. and, and thirdly, i'd like to see all of the russian banks, not just a few of them disconnected from swift. his criticism also has a personal motivation, browed, his friend and company lawyer died in the russian prison. he's long known how dangerous vladimir putin is. russian oligarchs, and in fact, any one else who wanted to lorna. the money have so far been service. well in london, it's been easy to find bankers, lawyers, estate agents to work with i, when it comes to property, it's impossible to hide behind. sophisticated shell stretches open within an offshore trust critics or wondering whether it's taken a war in europe for the u. k. government to seriously change that big mass in london forest. there now is your chance to ask the questions we've been trolling through the comments underneath out you 2 videos to find out exactly what people

want to know. and janelle, do allow and joins are in the studio to answer some of those. so janelle, it was very, is, it will most curious about, well, rob, this may not surprise you, but we're getting a lot of questions about energy and energy security. they're dominating our comments sections. and i guess that's really a reflection of the fact that on the back of already high inflation and energy prices, the discussion around accessing a affordable and reliable energy is a very live question for a viewers. understandably so, i'm worried about my heating. you're worried about your heating, and that's the kind of that's the reason we're seeing the comments that we are today. okay, well let's go to our 1st viewer question. this one comes from a john. lunar as who asks or was it a good idea for western your to rely on russian energy so that the questions just coming up there now, but? well, yes. so john lynn are, as i have to say that we're coming up against the limits of vonda do a handle. that of course is translated as

a number change through economic trade. and of course, it's this idea that if you engage a country to countries in trade than they both have a stake in ensuring the rule of law of peace and security as optimal business conditions. and in so doing that could encourage them on the way to democracy. and that's sort of led to the kind of economic relationship that we see between russia and europe now and interdependence. you may call it. but since the conflict in russia and ukraine, we've seen a u turn on western european energy policy, showing that the consensus is in fact that it was not a good idea to rely so heavily. heavily on russian energy finder during handle has not perhaps worked as well as hoped. but because this was a relationship that was cemented over or over year is a western europe is also having a hard time extricating itself from it. and then say the u. s. is the u. s. has

a band imports our fuel imports from russia, as we know, western europe says they would phase of them out. so that's a difference in wording for you, right? dollars out of us as i'm such a question. here we go on to a 2nd question here. now this is from a oh james. and it is a who has a question. it's about how europe and germany in particular can do without russian gas. they're asked, can they just temporarily reactivate nuclear reactors or some coal plants as a stop gap measure? well old james and he, us, thank you for reminding our viewers. that in fact, germany has at least quite heavily into phasing out a nuclear and into its energy transition at shifting to renewables in the past years. so starting with the 1st part of the question, so there was in fact a proposal on the table to reactivate germany's 3 remaining nuclear sites. earlier this week, the german government has decided that they did not want to do that. citing are citing legal and practical concerns of vice chancellor robert harvey has said that

he would if they did do that, then it wouldn't be ready in time before winter of this year. the soonest time that this move could be of benefit is in autumn. 2023. by then it would be too late. so the picture for a coal however, sees looks a bit different. there is a bit more willingness saw to reactivate coal plants, especially at reactivating coal plants. so as a, as reserve supply to help out with his crunch. so obviously the question then becomes, what happens to germany's climate goals. but this is really a hard lesson about what happens when you view energy policy through a single lens like climate policy. without integrating the perspectives of security and foreign policy. ok to now do alarm. thank you for fielding those questions for us. now if you do have that, you can also watch a series business beyond. in their latest episode, we ask the question, do sanctions work? and we'll also hear from experts about whether restrictions imposed on countries

like north korea, iran, cuba, venezuela, as well. actually had the desired effect. you can find business beyond on the d, w, and use youtube channel. now germany surprised many with its response to russia's invasion of ukraine. chancellor, olaf, sholtes, and his government showed that they were willing to change their minds by eventually backing russia's removal from swift and suspending the north stream to pipeline project. but how does the german business community feel the crisis is being handled well? database businesses, stephen beardsley has been speaking to siemens energy chairman joe casey. thank you for joining us. you're obviously very tied in to the european and german business senior, very well connected with a lot of these leaders. what are you hearing from them right now? how great a rupture is this for the european in german business community at the moment

because of this war? you know, people are very worried about the development. i think nobody would have guessed the magnitude of the attack that, you know, go for the whole country. but other than these 2 provinces, which would potentially why at least expected in the business community, but more contained as it is today. so as, as a lot of a lot of worry about what this will all be and how it's going to end, i think it's too early to tell what it will mean for the business in the long term . obviously. so people are quite worried. they are looking into that asset base, look into the financing matters. they of course, are all clear about what they think about the attack. and i think you know, most of the west opinion in a clear way. and also many, many companies stopped deliveries and would not take new business. there's 2

topics to that. the 1st one is is it wise to be all the riches going forward or not? and secondly, as, as, as it is morally advisable and morally positive that the company leaves us, take a stance. they also need to go see, what does it mean? if you do not fulfill the contracts to be cations, what is it if you get a shareholder lawsuit because you would not ship the product? although it's not the sanction. if products are sanctions, simple, that does is the privacy of, of the governmental law. but what is the product the solutions are not sanction? or you still, you know, be the more a leader and get sued by shareholders or so that something which i believe is now

the top topic could deposit them. to what extent does a business have a moral responsibility, especially when it means risking the ire of it shareholders, or even the litigation of shareholders? i believe i believe her companies and their leaders to have a moral obligation. i mean, just thinking the business of business is business. if it has ever been valid, it was more in the seventy's and eighty's, but not today. i believe businesses all to half a societal responsibility and impact the freedom of peace and integration of interest as much as they can. so the good news this time is that the most in europe, but certainly in germany, there is a so called business judgment rule. so what you can do is, as, as a management and abort yearbook, discuss the ramifications of ego to morrow. the economic once and then you would

make a business judgment. after deliberation and discussion, will this change, this idea that's been prevalent in german business of vondell joyce handle that his transformation through trade will everything that we're seeing will that transform that right now? or will there be a tendency to go back? it has brought millions of people out of poverty and it's a fact. look about china, millions of people out of poverty. it. oh, shoot you for that and for your profits and for your growth and you know, mistreat human rights. absolutely not. thought what i have always tried to do is to look at what is an audi of influence and what's an audi of concern that i have i been concerned up i'd just seen jen. absolutely. have i been concerned about hong kong? absolutely. well, but that's an area of concern. would i have ever even closely accepted the forced

labor in our companies? oh, as i was suppliers. hell know. because that's been my area of impact and influence . so that's a constant struck of looking beyond the immediacy of this war. what will this mean for germany's transformation to renewables? what add an extra boost to this effort to get away from oil and gas and other fossil fuels? which of course note here that you are chairman of the supervisory board for siemens energy. we need to find a comprehensive concept, a comprehensive concept between a renewable generation and fossil generation. what's the address already? what needs to be built? how, how, how long can be extend? what's dead already? and what does it take to build the future? there is no point in shutting down coff, our power plants, if we don't have built the future yet. by the same token, it doesn't make a lot of sense to build hundreds of thousands of makeup ads for renewable energy. if you don't have to get a b at april, which transports you bench,

which connects and out to the consumer with the supplier. so we have to have, i think the, the biggest wake up call for government officials, the german government ought to be. now go get to sit together it up, but every party who can but in challenge to table together in a concerted action and make a plan for 20 city house. you know, how will the board impact today? how are we going to get the good it in place that the have to today's resources connected in a peak times. if the sun shines in the south and the wind blows in the north, we do have more renewable generation capacity already than the whole country needs . but if that is not connected or a bad idea. so think about what's relevant, what's important, what's very urgent. what's that can be done at a later stage, and then i believe you have a plan which you can execute in

a meaningful way. and that's been missing for years. siemens energy chairman and former siemens seo job cases. speaking to steven bessie and you can find an extended version of that interview on our website, d, david dot com slash business. and that's all from this data. we have business special looking at the financial impact of the war in ukraine for more do check us out on youtube data with d to we use you tube channels where you can find us till next time. ah ah, with

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. ah, this is the w news live from berlin. sees fire talks good on the way even as russian forces intensify. their assault across ukraine, moscow denies targeting civilians, but one city reports that the russians killed more than $2500.00 residents. since the start of the invasion, also ukraine's president lensky is about to address you leaders and will bring you that live soon as also coming up.