LONDON – A UK-based telecoms provider, RETN Capital, has reportedly been awarded state contracts from Russian agencies that are controlled by individuals under sanctions – including an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to a report in the Daily Telegraph, the company has claimed to have limited its exposure to Russia since the invasion of Ukraine and to have complied with sanctions. However, its revenue from Russia has reportedly soared since the war began, due in part to contracts from sanctioned state entities. Additionally, it has been revealed that the company’s Tory-donor backer has been posting anti-Ukrainian propaganda on social media.
An investigation by a newspaper found that Njord Partners, the primary institutional investor of RETN, had a co-owner who posted content on social media attacking Ukraine and President Zelensky. The co-owner, Trolle, reposted conspiracy theories and made offensive comments about Ukraine and its people.
Trolle’s partner at Njord Partners, Jakob Kjellberg, is currently the Chairman of RETN. The company’s wholly-owned Russian subsidiary received contracts from state entities which have been sanctioned since the war in Ukraine. RETN’s ties with the Russian state and sanctioned agencies are also apparent in the company’s 2022 financial statements.
There are also questions over the current ownership of RETN Partners after its major shareholdings were moved around following the invasion of Ukraine. Until January 2021, the largest individual beneficial shareholder of RETN Capital was Polina Maltseva, the daughter of Anatoly Danilitsky, a former Russian diplomat and executive director of the Russian National Reserve Corporation. After the invasion of Ukraine, Maltseva’s stake in RETN was transferred to Anna Tindl, a German lawyer based in Vienna, Austria.
Tindl has partnered with numerous entities connected with Russian and Kremlin interests, including the Viennese radio station, Radio Ru, which was founded by Yuri Aleksandrovich Zaitsev, another former Russian diplomat, whom the FBI suspected of espionage and who was operating as a Kremlin recruiter while serving in Washington in 2013.
The company’s products revolve around internet access and other communication services which are generally exempted from international sanctions as most Western governments see them as having fundamental importance for democracy, progress and freedom of expression. RETN has stated that it is entirely in compliance with all relevant international sanctions and will investigate the alleged transactions that were brought to its attention.
Njord Partners has not yet responded to requests for comment.
