Right of Reply: [Interview] Oligarchs could hijack Reykjavík’s EU referendum, Icelandic professor warns

Dear EUobserver,In an article published on 26 August 2026, professor Thorvaldur Gylfason is quoted as contending that I am “known to have worked for the Putin regime in Moscow”, that I am “known to have represented a Russian oligarch who was trying to escape EU-imposed sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine” and that I was “brought to Iceland” by the No side. All these claims are false, and the facts are a matter of public record. At no time was I contacted for comment. First, my recent lecture in Iceland followed an invitation from professors Hannes Gissurarson and Ragnar Arnason from at the University of Iceland. I accepted on a pro bono basis and received no fee; the organisers covered travel and accommodation only. Second, the mandate in question is no secret. It concerns Vélfag ehf., an Icelandic fish-processing technology company sanctioned by the Icelandic authorities in 2025 and now challenging those measures before the EFTA Surveillance Authority. My appointment as counsel was requested by the company’s Icelandic attorney and formally approved by Iceland’s own Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Whether the measures comply with EEA law is now pending before the competent institutions, which is where such questions belong. Third, the right to legal representation, including in politically sensitive proceedings, is a cornerstone of the rule of law. The UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers state that lawyers shall not be identified with their clients or their clients’ causes as a result of discharging their functions. The EU legal order, for its part, guarantees sanctioned persons and entities access to counsel and to judicial review before the courts in Luxembourg. To recast the exercise of these rights as service to a foreign regime is not argument but insinuation. That such a claim is advanced three days before a referendum, against a lawyer rather than against his arguments, speaks for itself.Yours, Professor Carl Baudenbacher