Russia's two ‘friendliest’ oligarchs reportedly come to D.C. bearing a message from the Kremlin

According to the television station RTVI, American lobbyists working for the Russian businessmen Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven (“two of the most ‘pro-Western Russian oligarchs’”) arranged for them to meet with several influential Washington figures at a private roundtable on May 21 at the Atlantic Council think tank.

According to a leaked photograph of the event’s attendance list, the roundtable included Clay Berry (the deputy assistant secretary of the Office of Capital Markets in the U.S. Treasury’s Domestic Finance Office), as well as several prominent “Russia hands,” like Angela Stent, Anders Åslund, Ariel Cohen, Stephen Sestanovich, and others.

While in Washington, D.C., Fridman and Aven reportedly plan to meet with several congressmen to relay the Kremlin’s current position on sanctions and counter-sanctions.