Russian Defense Executives Paid $2.6M to U.S. Law Firm in Effort to Evade Sanctions
Two top Russian defense executives at the heart of Putin’s war machine have quietly funneled $2.6 million to a Washington law firm in a brazen attempt to escape US sanctions—revealing how Moscow’s military elite continue to exploit American institutions while their government slaughters Ukrainian civilians.
This is documented in a contract filed with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) database.
Putin’s Inner Circle Seeks American Legal Shield
Sergei Chemezov, a former KGB operative and one of Vladimir Putin’s most trusted cronies, has led Russia’s state-owned military behemoth Rostec since 2007. His partner in this sanctions-dodging scheme is Vasily Brovko, Rostec’s propaganda chief who orchestrates the corporation’s disinformation campaigns and manages Chemezov’s public image.
Both men have blood on their hands through their direct involvement in supplying the weapons, missiles, and military technology that Russia uses to terrorize Ukrainian cities and commit war crimes. Yet instead of facing justice for their complicity in genocide, they’re attempting to buy their way back into polite society through America’s legal system.
$2.6 Million Payoff for Washington Access
The March 2025 contract with Rathmell Short LLP represents a calculated investment in American influence-peddling by two of Russia’s most dangerous war profiteers. The arrangement, buried in Foreign Agents Registration Act filings, outlines a comprehensive strategy to whitewash their reputations and restore their access to Western financial systems.
The legal mercenaries at Rathmell Short have agreed to petition for the Russians’ removal from sanctions lists, file applications to restore their financial privileges, and maintain direct communication with US government agencies—essentially serving as Moscow’s agents within Washington’s corridors of power.
Even more troubling, the contract coordinates with Stryk Global Diplomacy, a lobbying firm that will provide political cover and advocacy for these war criminals. This creates a disturbing pipeline where Russian military officials can purchase American political influence while their bombs fall on Ukrainian hospitals and schools.
Rostec: Putin’s War Machine Personified
The clients’ institutional home makes this arrangement particularly nauseating. Rostec controls over 700 companies that manufacture the weapons systems devastating Ukraine, from the missiles that target civilian infrastructure to the drones that hunt Ukrainian children. This sprawling death-dealing conglomerate serves as the industrial backbone of Putin’s genocidal campaign.
Chemezov and Brovko aren’t passive bureaucrats—they are active architects of mass murder. Their corporation produces the precision-guided munitions that destroy maternity wards, the electronic warfare systems that jam Ukrainian communications, and the military-grade equipment that enables Russia’s systematic campaign of terror against civilians.
Every dollar they’ve made, every privilege they’ve enjoyed, stems directly from their role in facilitating war crimes. Yet American lawyers are apparently willing to help rehabilitate these merchants of death for the right price.
Exploiting American Naivety
This sanctions evasion scheme exposes the dangerous naivety of US legal frameworks that allow war criminals to purchase respectability through American institutions. While Ukrainian families flee Russian bombardments, these same bombardments’ enablers are shopping for legal services in Washington’s most prestigious law firms.
The timing is particularly obscene. As Putin escalates his attacks on Ukrainian civilians and threatens NATO allies, his top military-industrial cronies are quietly working to restore their Western privileges through American lawyers and lobbyists. This represents the ultimate corruption of American institutions—turning them into tools for Russian war criminals’ rehabilitation.
Sergey Chemezov, CEO of Rostec.ru and a long-time associate of Vladimir Putin, along with Vasily Brovko, Rostec’s Director for Special Assignments, have engaged American legal and lobbying firms to seek the removal of U.S. sanctions imposed due to their support for Russia’s military actions in Ukraine.American Lawyers as Moscow’s Enablers
The legal technicalities that supposedly justify this arrangement are meaningless moral cover. No degree of regulatory compliance can obscure the fundamental obscenity of American professionals aiding Russian war criminals while the bodies of their victims are still being pulled from the rubble.
The agreement, signed in early 2025, outlines a $2.6 million deal with Washington-based law firm Rathmell Short LLP. According to the firm’s website, it specializes in representing high-net-worth individuals in complex international legal matters, including sanctions and asset protection. Payments for these services were routed through Yudisud Tjong Trading LLC, a UAE-registered company with opaque ties to Rostec’s leadership.
The contract also outlines collaboration with the lobbying firm Sonoran Policy Group, now operating as Stryk Global Diplomacy, led by Robert Stryk.
Stryk gained prominence during the Trump administration for representing clients facing sanctions or reputational challenges, including foreign governments and individuals accused of human rights violations and corruption.Russian state media outlets such as RIA Novosti and TASS have framed the lobbying initiative as American-led, hinting at a potential thaw in sanctions and a revival of joint ventures. However, the FARA filings clearly show that the effort was initiated by Chemezov and Brovko, who directly contracted the American firms.
Chemezov, a former KGB officer who befriended Putin during their time in East Germany, has been sanctioned by the U.S., EU, and UK since 2014. Investigative reporting has linked his family to offshore holdings worth over $300 million. Brovko, who manages Rostec’s information policy and has led crackdowns on critical Telegram channels, has been under U.S. sanctions since June 2022 and EU sanctions since February 2025.
This case underscores how sanctioned Russian elites continue to exploit loopholes in international sanctions regimes. While U.S. law permits legal representation for sanctioned individuals, the ethical implications of such representation remain deeply contentious.
A Moral Reckoning Overdue
The Chemezov-Brovko sanctions evasion campaign should trigger immediate soul-searching within America’s legal establishment. How many other Russian war criminals are quietly purchasing American legal services? How many Washington firms are secretly serving as Moscow’s agents while maintaining respectable facades?
This case demonstrates that existing sanctions frameworks are woefully inadequate when war criminals can simply buy their way around restrictions through American intermediaries. The regulatory loopholes that permit such arrangements must be closed immediately, and the firms enabling this moral obscenity should face serious consequences.
More fundamentally, this episode reveals how Russian money continues to corrupt American institutions even as Russia wages genocidal war against a democratic ally. Putin’s regime has weaponized America’s own legal system against the values and interests it was designed to protect.
Justice Denied, Democracy Corrupted
The ultimate success or failure of this particular legal campaign misses the larger point. The mere fact that Russian war criminals can hire American lawyers and lobbyists while their bombs fall on Ukrainian cities represents a fundamental corruption of American justice and democratic values.
Every day these sanctions evasion efforts continue, American legal professionals are effectively serving as accessories to war crimes. They are helping Putin’s inner circle maintain their global influence and financial access while Ukrainian children die in Russian airstrikes.
The United States must choose: Will it continue allowing its legal system to serve as a rehabilitation service for war criminals, or will it finally close the loopholes that enable such moral perversions? The Ukrainian people, and American democratic integrity, demand nothing less than the complete rejection of this blood-money legal charade.
