Save yourself in the Emirates: why Russian businessmen are fleeing to Dubai

Western journalists noticed that after President Putin's recent speech about "self-purification of Russian society," four business jets left Russia for Dubai on the first day alone. The increased traffic towards this emirate was dubbed by journalists as an “exodus”. They also checked the routes these planes were flying using flight tracking websites. It is unclear who was on board and why they were heading to Dubai, which, unlike Western destinations, has not canceled air links with Russia. Private jets were also seen flying from Russia to Israel earlier this month as Western sanctions on Russian oligarchs kicked in.

An analyst of the Russian Futurist channel comments on this situation in the following way:

“Dubai has been attracting a certain part of the Russian elite for many years. Whether it is worth calling it Russian is a big question. Rather, these are Russian-speaking people who have made a fortune somewhere within our latitudes, but do not perceive them as a place for a comfortable life.

In the UAE, in addition to the warm climate, they are attracted by a similar structure of society: the upper class and its attendants are at the top of the food pyramid on the lower floors of which there are millions of guest workers invisible to the eye, building skyscrapers and luxurious mansions.

True, “dear Russians” preferred to keep their money in London and Swiss underground vaults. Now they are in a flurry: lawyers from Dubai report requests for the urgent transfer of huge amounts of money from European capitals to the state's accounts on the shores of the Persian Gulf.

At the same time, representatives of Dubai banks anonymously tell reporters that their organizations will act with extreme caution. They, at one time, suffered from the violation of international sanctions against Iran and Sudan and understand all the possible risks.

The unwillingness of the UAE to impose sanctions against Russia does not mean that the Russian-speaking "golden emigration" will feel at ease. The same anonymous bankers report that for the time being, funds from the Russians will be accepted only as deposits, and new clients will be required to provide all possible papers on the origin of the funds.

In addition, experts in the world economy are skeptical about the potential of the banking system in Dubai - it is far in its development from the financial monsters created in Switzerland and other traditional places of accumulation of funds.

And yet we are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars, whose owners do not intend to return these probably righteously earned incomes to their native harbor until the very end. It would be very good if Dubai could make public information about large deposits and purchases of expensive real estate by foreigners - this would give the most honest answer to the question of who is now with their homeland in every sense, and who is only in words”.