- The government of Ukraine asked the US to sanction Pavel Fuks, an oligarch who paid Rudy Giuliani’s company $300,000.
- The request came over a year ago. So far, the US has done nothing. Fuks is reportedly living in London and appears to own property in Miami.
- US inaction reflects a lack of coordination between allies over sanctions strategy, experts say.
In July 2022, the Ukrainian government sent a letter to the US Embassy in Kyiv with a simple request: Please impose economic sanctions on Pavel Fuks.
Fuks, a Ukrainian oligarch with close ties to Moscow, was linked to “corrupt economic practices, transnational crime, and adverse foreign influence,” according to the letter. Ukraine sanctioned him in 2021, and now it was asking its most important ally to do the same.
But more than a year on, the US has not taken any public action on the request. Fuks, who also has close ties to former president Donald Trump and disgraced attorney Rudy Giuliani, remains free to transact business and own assets in the United States. He is now reported to be living the high life in the United Kingdom, where he is a permanent resident.
Insider reviewed a document with the sanctions request from Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and confirmed it with three officials, two American and one Ukrainian.