In the West, Russia operates organizations and supports individuals who can advance Vladimir Putin’s interests.
One case in point is a Briton named Nicholas Cobb. A Washington Examiner investigation has found how, via various organizations with veneers of objective respectability, Cobb earns profits while serving Kremlin interests.
Cobb’s Kremlin relationship starts with the Westminster Russia Forum, of which Cobb is the dominant controller. Originally established as the Conservative Friends of Russia, the organization matches Cobb and the Kremlin’s financial interests to efforts designed to push British politics in directions favorable to Russia. As the Times reported in 2017, the Westminster Russia Forum was once stocked full of pro-Brexit figures. Whether that membership was incidental or not, the Russian government has long regarded Brexit as favorable to its interests.
Regardless, the Kremlin is grateful for Cobb’s hard work. Visiting Moscow this July, Cobb told Vladimir Putin’s RT channel that the “high civic awards” he and his compatriots had received from Russia were “a bit of a boost.”
Cobb has certainly earned those awards.
Hosting numerous events around London, including at least one at the British Parliament, Cobb has woven a web of credibility and influence. In association with top law firm Pinsent Masons, the Westminster Russia Forum this October will hold the “Third Annual UK-Russia & European Relations Conference.” It’s a chance for Cobb and the Kremlin to woo investors and perhaps even recruit some new friends.
But when one digs a little deeper, it becomes clear that Cobb isn’t acting solely out of a heartfelt fondness for Putin.
Cobb also operates Cobb Energy Communications, which offers to provide customers with “unrivaled access to leading stakeholders,” including “[Russian parliamentary] representatives, government ministries/regional government, Russian non-governmental organizations, [and] the Russian Chambers of Commerce.”
These are contacts that you don’t get to monetize unless you’re a friend of Putin and his intelligence services. Indeed, that perhaps informs Cobb’s other services. His website explains that “with an expanded network of discreet and high level contacts we are able to offer ‘problem solving’ [Cobb’s emphasis] services and expertise” in a range of other areas. “From corporate security teams to concierge, enhanced DD, personal protection to more ‘discreet operations’ [again, Cobb’s emphasis] – Cobb Energy has a specialized company that can assist.”
The company is Redoubt Holdings. And Redoubt Holdings seems to be a rather odd. U.K. government business records show that Redoubt has two active directors: Cobb and Sir Paul William Hallam. A man with that latter name has convictions for fraud and money laundering. The dates of those convictions match Hallam’s age on government business records. Media reporting on Hallam’s convictions also suggest his knighthood is a fabrication.
Perhaps Hallam is now rehabilitated. Perhaps he was even genuinely knighted at some point. But the synergy between criminal activity and Kremlin officers is often deep. Hallam’s directorship certainly forces us to ask what “problem solving” services Redoubt Holdings truly offers.
But Cobb’s connection to Putin’s agenda goes deeper than this. Take Cobb’s position, since January, as managing director of Vostok Marketing. Cobb is not listed on Vostok’s website, but the only other listed active director on government records, John Bonar, is displayed prominently. And Vostok is far less circumspect in its endorsement of Kremlin ideology than are Cobb’s other endeavors.
In its mission statement, Vostok drips with anti-American disdain and proudly declares that “Putin has the moral compass to become the new leader of the free world.” Vostok explains that the free world “essentially are the countries that have fast growing economies outside the U.S. orbit.” In fine Putin-esque form, the company explains where the free world starts: It’s Crimea, stupid.
Vostok explains that “there is no disputing that the over-reaction of the West — United States, the E.U. and United Nations — in refusing to recognize Crimea as part of Russia and the imposition of sanctions against Russia and particularly Crimea has had an impact. More than anything, it has strengthened the resolve of the Russian people to withstand the attack. The spirit of Leningrad, Stalingrad and Sevastopol is resurgent among the majority of the Russian people.”
This linkage to the Nazi assault on the Soviet Union during World War II is vintage Putinism. It’s about presenting Crimea as the frontier of freedom against the injustices of an imperial West. But Cobb and Bonar are playing for keeps. With photos alongside an apparently unwitting senior British royal, Prince Michael of Kent, Bonar shows his talent for public relations game-playing.
There’s more.
Cobb and Bonar’s company also provides a link to an English-language magazine, Russia Focus. The magazine’s website shows it to be funded in part by the Russian trade federation (linked to Russian SVR and GRU intelligence service stations in London). To give some idea, Russia Focus runs puff pieces on Russia’s annexation of Crimea and casts doubt on the incontrovertible evidence of Russian GRU responsibility for the March 2018 nerve agent attack in Salisbury.
Why does all this matter?
Well, because what we see in Cobb is a Russian influence operation at its best. One man has weaved a Kremlin web that begins with a seemingly harmless organization, charts its course with profits from Russian investments, and ends up with direct advocacy for Putin’s foreign policy.
Cobb did not respond to a request for comment.
