Yesterday several sources stated that Amsterdam’s Zuidas business district could be the base of the Russian company responsible for supplying the Eastern Ukraine separatist arsenal with anti aircraft missile launchers. The military technology company called Rostec is the owner of Rosoboronexport weapons maker group, according to DutchNews.nl. Sergey Chemezov, the director of Rostec, one of the people blacklisted by the United States earlier this year, choose to be registered in the Zuidas district in order to take advantage of Nederland’s convenient tax break system. The same source states that Rostec was added to the US blacklist as well, last week.
Until the MH17 disaster, the Netherlands belonged to the group that preferred caution in the European Union – Russia relations regarding the crisis in Ukraine. Recently, the public anger, significantly fueled by the difficulties in recovering the victims bodies, fundamentally changed the Dutch government’s attitude towards Moscow. A recent statement of the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte reflected the new position adopted against Russia: “I want to see results in the form of unhindered access and a speedy recovery of the victim’s remains. This is now priority No. 1. Putin must take responsibility vis-à-vis the rebels and show the Netherlands and the world that he is doing what is expected of him”.
Russian companies are part of other ideal business environments from European Union countries as well (like Cyprus, Luxembourg, Ireland) since a long time ago. In case of Netherlands, Global Post stated that “Russian companies and their oligarch owners are among the most enthusiastic users of Dutch fiscal laws enabling international businesses to recycle profits and avoid national taxes”. The recent events amplified the feeling of emergency in taking much harsher action against Russian economy in Europe. British Prime Minister David Cameron expressed his opinion on this matter in a speech in Parliament : “Russia cannot expect to keep on enjoying access to European markets, European capital, European knowledge and technical expertise while she fuels conflict in one of Europe’s neighbors”.
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A new wave of sanctions from the western powers is expected to hit President Putin in the future, based on the British PM’s tone: “We must do what is necessary to stand up to Russia”.