Why has former GOP congressman John Sweeney prostituted himself to America’s keystone enemy, Vladimir Putin?
As Politico first reported, Sweeney has a new $62,500 per month contract to lobby for Russia’s state owned Vnesheconombank. In his Foreign Agents Registration Act filings, Sweeney “proposes to engage in meetings and other communications with U.S. government officials regarding potential new sanctions legislation … that could affect the activities of [Vnesheconombank].”
Politico notes that Sweeney has previously lobbied for Russia’s Nord Stream II — a pipeline to consolidate Putin’s energy-blackmail policy in Europe. But what Politico doesn’t mention is why representing Vnesheconombank is so bad.
This is Putin-ocracy 101. Headed up by Putin-loyalist Igor Shuvalov, a former deputy prime minister who apparently likes to fly his Corgi dogs around in private jets, the bank is already under U.S. sanctions. It wants Sweeney to ensure it avoids new U.S. sanctions the next time Putin does something to precipitate sanctions (which he almost certainly will). But it gets worse. Because in an amusing twist, it’s not actually Vnesheconombank that is handling the contract. It’s the Mosow-based International Centre for Legal Protection, a Kremlin front which advocates for Putin’s corruption schemes.
None of this seems to bother Sweeney. To the contrary, his FARA filing includes a letter to the Centre — helpfully signed “U.S. Congressman (Ret.)” — which includes his pledge that the center “shall have the right … to give instructions to me regarding its preferences for the representation of its interests and the protection of its rights.” Sweeney sweetly adds, “I want [the center] and [Vnesheconombank] to be satisfied with the professional services that I perform on [Vnesheconombank] behalf.”
George W. Bush once referred to Sweeney as “congressman kick-ass.” A better title might be “Kremlin kiss-ass.”
