- Anti-Biden Ukraine lawmaker ends lobbying
- Edelman does PR for UAE’s oldest bank
- Pakistan PM’s party registers US general secretary
- Ukraine trade minister gets pro bono Washington agent
- Defense lobbying firm protects arms sales to UAE
NEW FOREIGN LOBBYING FILINGS (FARA)
Asia
Kazakhstan: Mercury Public Affairs has registered public relations consultant Caroline Delleney as a foreign agent for the Ministry of Justice of Kazakhstan (Mercury is a subcontractor to Los Angeles law firm Latham & Watkins on the account). The ministry is fighting legal charges brought in federal court by foreign oil and gas investors, as we wrote about here.
Pakistan: Junaid Bashir, the president of the US office of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan‘s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI USA), has amended his March registration with the US Department of Justice to specify that he “will be engaging in political activities” as defined by FARA. The change follows a July 1 request by the department’s FARA office. PTI USA General Secretary Abrar Khan joined Khan in registering under FARA on Aug. 12.
Singapore: Washington’s Fratelli Group has registered account manager Heidi Payter as a foreign agent on its account with the government of Singapore. She will assist with “media monitoring, strategic counsel, message and materials development, and media and public outreach support.”
Europe
Germany: The Chicago office of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia’s NRW.INVEST economic development agency has terminated Ginta Rose Rubin‘s registration as a foreign agent, effective July 31.
Ukraine: Global Management Association Corp. of Washington has terminated its registration on behalf of a pro-Russian lawmaker accused of trying to swing the 2020 election in favor of President Donald Trump. Ukrainian member of parliament Andriy Derkach has been “spreading claims about corruption — including through publicizing leaked phone calls — to undermine former Vice President [Joe] Biden’s candidacy and the Democratic Party,” US National Counterintelligence and Security Center Director William Evanina said in an Aug. 7 statement. Global Management President Nabil Bader signed a $12,000 contract with Derkach in February to provide a “comprehensive legal and government affairs strategy, coordination and meeting with US official.” Bader’s firm did not report any contacts with either US officials or media during the six months of the contract, which ended July 31.
Ukraine: Alexandra Natalya Chopivsky of Washington has registered as a pro-bono foreign agent for Minister of Economic Development and Trade Ihor Petrashko. “The registrant engages in communication, and participates in conferences and other engagements in her personal capacity that promote ties between Ukraine and the Ukrainian-American community and American investment in Ukraine, which may indirectly benefit the Minister of Economic Development & Trade of Ukraine,” Chopivsky wrote in her registration with the Department of Justice. The registration was effective April 23. Chopivsky is the founder of the Transnational Education Group, a nonprofit that helps connect Ukrainian students with Washington, and the director of the program on the world economy at the Aspen Institute.
Middle East
Iraq (KRG): Tara Hamawandi has registered as a director for the Kurdistan Regional Government’s US liaison office. She is in charge of government relations outreach to US federal, state and local governments.
United Arab Emirates: Edelman has signed an agreement with the oldest privately owned bank in the UAE for public relations services starting July 27. The PR firm will provide “strategic advice,” “non-US media management and media monitoring” and “coordinating with media in non-US regions in response to specific media queries” for Dubai’s Mashreqbank. The agreement calls for Edelman to be paid $20,000 up front before hourly rates kick in. General Manager Sean Neary has registered as a foreign agent on the account.
United Arab Emirates: Akin Gump subcontractor American Defense International was paid $225,000 in the six months through July for its lobbying on behalf of the UAE Embassy in Washington. The firm’s president and CEO, Michael Herson, reported meetings in February and March with House Armed Services members Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.), Bill Keating (D-Mass.) and Andy Kim (D-N.J.) as well as with Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.), a member of the Appropriations Committee’s defense panel, amid push-back against US arms sales to the Arab Gulf countries. In April, Herson spoke by phone with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) chief of staff Fred Turner and with Josh Paul, the director of congressional and public affairs at the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, regarding the sale of Predator XP drone to the UAE. Last month, Herson met with House Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) and House Foreign Affairs MENA Chairman Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) and emailed and called multiple staffers to discuss proposed amendments to the annual Defense authorization and foreign aid spending bills that sought to restrict US support for the Saudi-led Arab coalition fighting in Yemen. He also met with Reps. Greg Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) on July 27 to discuss the situation in the Persian Gulf. Finally, Herson spoke by phone with Deutch regarding Yemen on July 30, two days after the UAE-backed separatists of the Southern Transitional Council announced they were ending their bid for self-rule.