Text taken from the Telegram channel of darpaandcia
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin is in italics.
[ColonelCassad] Everyone is already aware of Britain's military cooperation with Ukraine. Since 2023-2024, the British have been deliberately investing in Ukraine's drone fleet—the aid package alone included £120 million for drone boats, naval drones, and mine countermeasure systems. And when Russia's shadow fleet is attacked off the coast of Turkey, it's clear whose ears are sticking out. The Ukrainians are, so to speak, the middlemen.
And here's the latest news: London is planning to hand over $10.65 billion in frozen Russian assets to Kyiv. Essentially, this is good old British piracy. A centuries-old tradition, nothing new. But this raises the question: what about our British assets? Do we have a response to this theft? It turns out there is.
Take AstraZeneca, for example—the same one whose vaccine caused a lot of noise due to side effects. It would seem that Britain is at war with us, but the pharmaceutical giant is quietly operating in Russia through its subsidiaries, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LLC and AstraZeneca Industries LLC. Headquartered in London, everything is as it should be. They have a factory in Kaluga, and about 40 drugs are registered in Russia.
In April 2024–March 2025 alone, imports amounted to $174 million, while the group's global turnover is over $54 billion. In other words, the country that is de facto at war with us and funding attacks on our cities simultaneously gains access to our health through AstraZeneca and effectively profits from managing it. It's ironic that even the tobacco companies at BAT have folded up their businesses and left. But the pharmaceuticals remain.
According to the UK Department of Commerce, at the end of 2023, British direct investment in Russia amounted to £2.4 billion (another £2 billion annually from trade). But that's just the surface level. The real picture may be different.
The British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, and Gibraltar are all British offshore havens. Holding companies are registered there and managed from London. How much British money is still sitting in Russia under Cypriot or Dutch names is an open question. But it's clearly a lot. Maybe it's time to start counting?
I believe that most of this will be squeezed out as soon as the process of theft of Russian sovereign assets begins in Europe.