Welcome everyone to the

Martiak Market Update with your host Mark Martiak. Mark is a Managing Director

of Investments with AGP/Alliance Global Partners, a

registered investment adviser and broker-dealer, member of FINRA/SIPC. This show will explore topics

ranging from market updates to the global economy and personal finance. Money

is knowledge, and Mark wants to help you navigate your relationship with money

by offering timely guidance and his unique perspective. Here's Mark Martiak.

Mark speaking: Welcome.

Thank you for joining me as we discuss key trends shaping our industries and

markets.

It’s been a humanitarian crisis for the

people of Ukraine, many of whom have faced devastation as the Russian invasion

and war entered a third week.

You hear a lot about economic sanctions that

have been put in place by countries including the U.S..

During this program, I want to look at sanctions

placed on Russia’s Oligarchs who are on the move amid a global dragnet that

Western governments have cast to ensnare their yachts, villas, jets, and bank

accounts.

Oligarchs — or extremely wealthy business leaders who are

politically connected — became

more prominent in Russia in the 1990s, but they are not unique to

Russia. 

Many Russian oligarchs are heavily involved in and benefit from

Russian President Vladimir

Putin's regime, with some serving in political positions.

For example, when Putin opened a new bridge to

Crimea in 2018 — a region Russia had annexed from Ukraine in 2014 —

the bridge was built by his friend Arkady Rotenberg's company and the truck he

drove across it was made by Sergei Chemezov's state corporation Rostec,

according to The

Carnegie Moscow Center, a think-tank that focuses on domestic and

foreign policy.

There is often a line of succession for oligarchs

in politics. For example, Dmitry Patrushev, the son of Russian Security Council

Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, was appointed as Russia's minister of agriculture,

according to The Carnegie Moscow Center.

Numerous Russian oligarchs and government officials were

sanctioned by the U.S. in 2018, in part for the regime's occupation of Crimea

and for continuing to instigate violence in Ukraine, according to the U.S.

Treasury Department, which announced the sanctions. Rotenberg’s son and Patruskev

were included in that round of sanctions for their involvement with the regime. 

"Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from