SVT has shown how the Swedish government and the ministers Ann Linde and Mikael Damberg in 2018 and 2019 carried out a campaign to get the US government to ease the sanctions against Oleg Deripaska and the aluminum group that owns the Kubal factory in Sundsvall.
Lobbying companies that carry out work on behalf of foreign actors to influence American policy must document and register the activities.
Documents from the US Department of Justice show that Deripaska's and the aluminum group's EN + chairman of the board, the British lord of the upper house, Gregory Barker of Battle, paid the reputable lobbying firm Mercury Public Affairs in New York over six million kroner.
Invitation to Sweden's US Ambassador
The money was paid in 2018 to, among other things, get the Swedish government to help Oleg Deripaska and his company.
The documents show a detailed roadmap and, for example, completed letters addressed to various politicians, including the Swedish embassy in the USA as sender.
The PR plan states that, among other things, Sweden's US Ambassador Karin Olofsdotter is sent to send the letter to the US Department of State and Finance and contact other "officials with whom you have a particularly good working relationship".
The letter contains wording on how the sanctions "will seriously damage Sweden's economy" and the jobs linked to the Kubal factory in Sundvall.
SVT has searched for Karin Olofsdotter without results.
Was richly rewarded by Deripaska
In the EN + annual report for 2019, Chairman of the Board Lord Barker writes about the effort to save Deripaska's company from sanctions.
He writes about how the company used "all legal opportunities" to defend the long-term value of shareholders' assets.
He also points out that for several months he and his colleagues carried out a "complex and ultimately successful process" to get the US sanctions authority to remove the group from the sanctions list.
Lord Gregory Barker was richly rewarded by Oleg Deripaska and the other shareholders for his work.
In 2019, his total remuneration for the presidency was closer to the equivalent of SEK 80 million.
Barker resigned as chairman in early March this year after Russia's invasion of Ukraine led to widespread criticism in Britain of his role in EN +.
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The review in brief: This is how the Swedish campaign was conducted - to mitigate the sanctions against the oligarchs.