Billionaire Timchenko spokesman sees WSJ report as pressure tool
MOSCOW. Nov 8 (Interfax) - Anton Kurevin, a spokesman for businessman Gennady Timchenko, believes a report in The Wall Street Journal alleging that the U.S. has launched a money-laundering probe related to a company formerly controlled by Timchenko is a tool for informational pressure on the Russian businessman's image in U.S. media and the U.S.' message to its European partners to put more pressure on Russia.
"It's worth mentioning from the start that we view the publication of a report in The Wall Street Journal reprinted later by a number of American publications exclusively as an act of provocation aimed at discrediting the image of the Russian business in American media," Kurevin said in a Saturday analytical TV program hosted by Sergei Brilyov.
"And we are also inclined to think that this could be a message from American political institutions to their European partners on expanding the sanction influence on Russia," Kurevin said.
"This is not exactly sanctions, but rather a tool for informational, financial, and political pressure so as to persuade [them] to expand some types of pressure," he added.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday citing its sources that the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, aided by the Justice Department, is investigating "whether Timchenko transferred funds linked to allegedly corrupt deals in Russia through the U.S. financial system."
