“[T]hese sanctions represented a public admission by the United States government of what it had known for over a decade... Putin has built a system based on massive predation not seen in Russia since the Tzars. Transparency International estimates $300 billion are paid every year in corruption. {{w|Capital flight}}, according to official Russian Central Bank figures since 2005 have been $335 billion, and {{w|Credit Suisse}}... stated that Russia now has the highest income inequality of any country in the world.”