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Russian influencers with Kremlin ties have posted to social media flashing luxury goods. (Image: @victoriaportfolio / @poechkaa / NF/newsX)
Russia's most important movers and shakers have taken to social media to show how they can still get their hands on Europe's and America's most coveted brands.
Western manufacturers are banned from exporting goods to Russia following Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine.
However, the social media posts from the Kremlin's inner circle seem to show just how hopeless the restrictions are.
Russian super mum Victoria Bykova filmed herself showing off her GBP-1,000-a-pop designer Louis Vuitton Christmas tree decorations, NewsX reported.
And model influencer Valeria Gurevich got into the Yuletide spirit as she showed off her new Dior boots at her home in Moscow.
Fellow influencer Katerina Kovalevskaya showed off her new Bottega Veneta purse and wardrobe, which was bursting with designer shoes, bags, and jewellery from Western luxury brands.
The company of Dmitry Pumpyansky (R) bought an armored 2023 Mercedes Maybach despite sanctions. (Image: Kremlin, NF/newsX)
Luxury mansion in London bought by the family of the sanctioned Russian oligarch Guryev and cost 30 (Image: NF/newsX)
Then she filmed her huge jewellery box crammed with diamonds and designer watches.
Despite the sanctions, which were supposed to bring the Kremlin elite to their knees, Russia's wealthy are so mind-blowingly rich they can still get hold of anything they want.
For some, even the cost of a private jet to Dubai is worth it to circumvent the ban, and flaunting designer goods in the face of sanctions has become a badge of honour.
In Moscow, car dealerships, like these recent images from the VIP-clients-only Deluxe Auto Gallery, are still selling top Western brands.
Cars on offer include luxury British brands like Rolls-Royce and Bentley and German vehicles like Mercedes.
Instead of importing them from the West, the eye-wateringly expensive motors are imported from Belarus, the UAE, China, Kyrgyzstan or South Korea.
And Putin's elite seem to be the least bothered by the sanctions.
Russian oligarch Andrey Guryev and his son Andrey Guryev Jr are often seen with their pal Putin and swanking around in their new GBP 500,000 Rolls-Royce Phantom.
A fan of all things English, the Guryevs own Witanhurst in Highgate, London's second largest occupied house after Buckingham Palace.
It was obtained through an offshore company registered in the British Virgin Islands and Guryev also owns the five-storey penthouse of London's St George Wharf Tower.
Fellow billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky, often seen with Putin, had his 236-foot megayacht Axioma seized and sold off as one of 96 oligarchs named on a sanctions list,
But in Russia, he has still managed to snap up a bespoke armoured bomb-proof Mercedes Maybach.
Russian lawmakers even stripped Western brands of the rights to their names after introducing new trade laws that allow them to be advertised and sold without their permission.
The sanctions-busting activities outside Russia in Chechnya were supposed to bring Putin's war dog, Ramzan Kadyrov, to heel.
Yet Kadyrov took delight in taunting the West by buying Tesla Cybertrucks and fitting them with boot-mounted machine guns.
He has also snapped up a fleet of Western vehicles from brands like Mercedes and GMC, which he hands out as presents to his local military commanders.
So many have revelled in boasting of their access to luxury goods that Estonia's ex-Prime Minister and EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas even asked Russians to show more respect.
Rolls-Royce Phantom 2023 with Russian oligarch Andrey Guryev and his son Andrey Guryev Jr. inside. (Image: NF/newsX)
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Blogger Katerina Kovalevskaya's Bottega Veneta and wardrobe with shoes, bags, and jewelry (Image: Katerina Kovalevskaya, NF/newsX)
She said: "The approval of each package of sanctions against Russia is a complex process involving all EU members.
"It takes weeks and months to approve new sanctions.
"Nevertheless, Russians allow themselves to joke about each new package of sanctions on the Internet, openly mocking our work.
"I ask them to take this seriously and show at least some respect."
The appeal only resulted in a fresh wave of scornful exposure of loaded Russians enjoying their purchases.
State Duma deputy from Bryansk region and former boxer Nikolai Valuev even called on Russians to laugh louder at Western sanctions.
He said: "We haven't laughed a lot lately, but when you hear stuff like this, it reminds you how to smile.
"Thank you Kaja for making this even funnier."
Veteran war correspondent and author Oggy Boytchev, who has made a study of how the rich hide their money, said the sanctions are working in hitting the ordinary Russian public, but not the elite they were supposed to target.
Boytchev, who met Vladimir Putin covering the 2008 Russian elections, told NewsX: "British, US and EU sanctions regulations explicitly prohibit the export of luxury goods to Russia as part of the wider sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov. (Image: @RKadyrov_95, NF/newsX)
Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov and a new Tesla Cybertruck in Chechnya, Russia. (Image: @RKadyrov_95/Newsflash)
"Gold, diamonds, luxury cars, and jewellery are on the sanctions list. Top fashion brands – much loved by the Russian elite - have closed down stores and stopped their exports to Putin’s Russia. At least in theory.
"Make no mistake: sanctions, especially the ones imposed on the Russian financial system are working. The Russian economy is tanking. But it appears that people at the top, unaffected by the hardships experienced by ordinary people, will be enjoying yet another luxurious Christmas nearly three years after the invasion of Ukraine. As one colleague put it, ‘Gucci is cheap and eggs are expensive in Russia’s surreal economy’.
He said those wondering how this was possible need to look at the situation in Germany.
He said: "If you look at Germany’s exports, in the two years since the invasion for which data is available, the total value of luxury cars exported to the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan jumped by 5,100%.
"Kyrgyzstan has a population of 7 million. It’s smaller than London. The stuff doesn’t even arrive in Kyrgyzstan, an expert familiar with the situation said.
"While direct exports of Western goods to Russia have fallen through the floor since the imposition of sanctions, exports to former Soviet republics like Armenia and Georgia, which share a border with Russia, as well as other countries in the region have gone up dramatically.
"For example, UK export volumes to Armenia have recorded a sharp jump. On the other hand, the volume of trade between Russia and Armenia has doubled.
"Experts suggest that Western governments know very well what is happening, but there is no political will to deal with it. The biggest 'sanctions hole' for luxury goods appears to be in the south – Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.
"A recent investigation by a Georgian investigative media platform, iFact, described the border with Russia as a ‘paradise’ with Porsches and Lamborghinis climbing the majestic mountains of the Caucasus."
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