A top executive at private equity firm Njord Partners has banned his X (previously known as Twitter) account after an inquiry revealed that his firm had received Russian state contracts from entities controlled by sanctioned individuals, including a Vladimir Putin buddy.
The Telegraph newspaper discovered that Arvid Trolle, a partner and co-founder of Njord Partners LLP, used his X account full-time to spread anti-Ukrainian and pro-Russian propaganda on his social media profile (@arvidherluf).
Essentially, Arvid Trolle’s propaganda supported the Russian narrative. Since the report was published earlier this week, Arvid Trolle has removed his social media account, making it inaccessible.
According to the investigation, Arvid Trolle, the co-owner of RETN’s key institutional investor, Njord Partners, was using his X profile to post content denigrating Ukraine and President Zelensky. Jakob Kjellberg, Trolle’s partner at Njord Partners, is the current Chairman of RETN.
RETN Capital, which provides services across Europe, claims to have limited its exposure to Russia since the invasion of Ukraine and complied with sanctions, but its revenue from the country has skyrocketed since the war began, owing in part to contracts with sanctioned state entities, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Arvid Trolle also reposted: “Why isn’t anyone saying the obvious? Zelensky has regime-ending dirt on Biden and other Western officials who have used Ukraine as a corrupt playground for decades.”
The profile (@arvidherluf) is no longer active, and a source at X verified that the account was deactivated once RETN’s Russia hidden links were disclosed, as well as Arvid Trolle’s campaign in support of the Russian regime and against Ukraine. Russia has waged a vicious war on Ukraine for more than two years, murdering thousands of innocent civilians.
According to Interfax-Spark, a database of government contracts, RETN’s wholly owned Russian affiliate has earned contracts from state companies sanctioned since the Ukraine war.
In December 2022, RETN’s Russian arm was awarded a contract with the Kurchatov Institute, a Russian state-controlled aviation research body sanctioned by the United Kingdom and United States. The UK, Canada, and Ukraine have sanctioned its general director, Mikhail Kovalchuk, and his brother Yury, a close confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Two months later, RETN was given a contract with the Russian State Enterprise Fuel and Energy Complex in St Petersburg, also known as GUP TEK. Ukrainian authorities have sanctioned both GUP TEK and its general director, Ivan Boltenkov.
RETN’s ties to the Russian state and sanctioned agencies can also be shown in the company’s 2022 financial statements, according to the newspaper. RETN’s Russian subsidiary’s main customer is PJSC Rostelecom, a largely state-owned company. The Russian subsidiary is likewise a client of the Russian bank, Rosbank. Both Rosbank and Rostelecom have been sanctioned by the West and Ukraine.
There are also issues about RETN Partners’ current ownership, as its primary shareholdings were shifted following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Until January 2021, the largest individual beneficial stakeholder of RETN Capital was Polina Maltseva, the daughter of Anatoly Danilitsky, a former Russian diplomat and executive director of the Russian National Reserve Corporation. Danilitsky was also the former chairman of RETN’s Russian affiliate.
The UK High Court once ruled that Maltseva was a proxy for her father’s financial interests. She purchased a share in RETN in 2016, shortly after her father quit as chairman of the company. After Russia invaded Ukraine, Maltseva’s interest in RETN was transferred to Anna Tindl, a German lawyer residing in Vienna, Austria.
Tindl is also a director of RETN, although unlike Kjellberg, she is not listed on the organization’s website.
