raf_sh

... When he retired from chess in 2006 to turn to finance, "Russia offered me the best bridge to go from chess to business", he told French business daily Les Echos in 2016. He also used the interview to publicly denounce, two years after the annexation of Crimea by Russia, the "demonisation of Russia in Europe" and called for more business ties with Moscow.

In 2006, he founded his own mergers and acquisitions consultancy RGG (Russia goes global) which specialises in buying and selling assets in Russia. At the same time, he trained at Skolkovo, the leading management school in Moscow. ...

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20220423-war-in-ukraine-jo%C3%ABl-lautier-the-french-chess-star-on-the-us-sanctions-list