They lost everything: checking accounts, mansions, jets, assets scattered abroad. And now someone among the Russian oligarchs close to the Russian President putin, and affected by the antiMoscow sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine, she openly takes sides against the war.
The sanctions and the lost 77 billion
MORE INFORMATION
Indeed, in the face of kidnappings and sanctions, Russian billionaires have to get used to a new life radically different from the previous one. In fact, not only Europe and financial havens like Switzerland or Monaco, but also the US Treasury announced a series of new sanctions against hundreds of members of the Russian State Duma, dozens of Russian defense companies and the CEO of Sberbank, the largest Russian financial institution. Officials say their intention is to squeeze out those who benefited from Putin’s government and to put internal pressure on Russia to scale back or call off the offensive in Ukraine.
The effect of the sanctions separates the fate of the billionaires, who undoubtedly contribute to their country’s wealth, from President Putin. The losses of just ten of these champions of Russian capitalism since the new sanctions began have totaled $85 billion, or €77 billion at the current exchange rate. A survey conducted by the poligon.media website, built on the ashes of the MBKh newspaper founded and sponsored by former dissident oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, puts the accounts in the pockets of this wellrepresentative part of the 36 “pure” entrepreneurs who belong to the West are affected.
And as the impact of sanctions has spread to the economy and sports, some of the proKremlin oligarchs have decided to take a firsthand stand against the war and tempt Putin’s wrath. But if there are “repentant” millionaires, there are still many who have remained silent.
Russian oligarchs, new life after sanctions. Petr Aven: “I can’t pay my bills, can I at least get a maid or the driver back?”
Oleg Deripaska
He is a close ally of Putin, who made his fortune in the aluminum sector and was sanctioned by the UK government on March 10. With an estimated net worth of £2bn, he holds shares in the En+ Group, a major energy company, and owns one of the world’s largest aluminum producers. Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Deripaska declared on the messaging app Telegram: “Peace is very important! Negotiations must begin as soon as possible! ». When the ruble collapsed and Russia’s stock market didn’t open for trading, Deripaska said he wanted “understandable clarifications and comments on economic policy for the next three months,” adding that the central bank’s decision to raise interest rates drastically would mean interest rates and companies will force The sale of foreign exchange is the “first proof of who will really pay for this festival”. Deripaska was previously sanctioned by the United States in 2018 in response to Russian conclusions in the 2016 election. The United States investigated him for money laundering and charged him with “threatening the lives of business competitors, illegally intercepting a government official and participating in racketeering and extortion,” according to the Treasury Department, which added, “Deripaska said he was doing it to not to separate from the Russian state.
Mikhail Fridman
He is president of the Alfa Group conglomerate and has a net worth of $11.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index. He was recently sanctioned by the European Union, which said: “He managed to develop close ties with Vladimir Putin’s government and was listed as one of the top Russian financiers and brokers by Putin’s inner circle.” Before his sanction, the in wrote West Ukraineborn Fridman wrote a few days after the invasion in a letter to the workforce that he wanted “the bloodshed to stop.” “My parents are Ukrainian citizens and live in Lviv, my favorite city. But I’ve also spent most of my life as a Russian citizen building and growing businesses. I have deep ties to the Ukrainian and Russian people and see the current conflict as a tragedy for both,” Fridman wrote. This crisis will take lives and harm two nations that have been brothers for hundreds of years. While a solution seems terrifyingly distant, I can only join with those whose dearest wish is for the bloodshed to stop. Friedman called violence a “tragedy and added that “war can never be the answer, but he stopped criticizing Putin directly. “If I make an unacceptable political statement in Russia, it will clearly have an impact on the company, our customers, our creditors and our stakeholders,” Fridman said.
Roman Abramovich
Another oligarch who has publicly expressed his dismay at the crisis but has not criticized Russia is Roman Abramovich, owner of Premier League club Chelsea, who has moved to sell the team in the face of his own sanctions. Abramovich “is one of the few oligarchs of the 1990s who took the spotlight under Putin,” according to the UK, but he has always denied any such connection. Before being sanctioned by the UK on March 10, Abramovich said the net proceeds from the sale of the club will be used to set up a charitable foundation “for the benefit of all victims of the war in Ukraine”. The European Union last week sanctioned Abramovich, citing his “long and close ties with Vladimir Putin” and noting that his “privileged access” to the president helped him “preserve his considerable wealth.”
The oligarchs were silent
However, many of Putin’s allies and members of his inner circle have chosen to remain silent and not publicly comment on the war, perhaps underscoring Fridman’s comments that questioning the Russian leader has consequences. Sanctions by Western nations against Russian government officials and leaders continue to mount, including those against: Igor Sechin, chief executive of energy company Rosneft, a Sechinowned superyacht was recently seized, according to the French Treasury Ministry. Andrey Kostin, President of VTB Bank. Alexei Miller, CEO of the energy company Gazprom. Sergey Chemezov, head of the Rostec state defense company. Igor Shuvalov, President of Vnesheconombank. Nikolai Tokarev, President of the Russian state oil pipeline company Transneft. Gennady Timchenko, founder and owner of Volga Group, an investment company with a large stake in Russian gas producer Novatek. Arkady Rotenberg, owner of Mostotrest, the Russian construction company that helped build a bridge connecting the Crimean Peninsula to Russia. The Rotenbergs are Putin’s close friends. All have publicly remained silent about the war. CNN asked each individual to comment.
The Russian elite
However, comments from other highprofile figures indicate that disapproval of the war may run deep within the nation’s elite. Evgeny Lebedev the son of Alexander Lebedev, who describes himself as a former oligarch wrote a public statement against Putin in the British newspaper Evening Standard, which he owns. “As a citizen of Russia, I ask you to stop the Russians from killing their Ukrainian brothers and sisters,” Lebedev said. “As a British citizen, I ask you to save Europe from war. As a Russian patriot, I ask you to prevent other young Russian soldiers from dying unnecessarily. As a citizen of the world, I ask you to save the world from annihilation ». Vladimir Potanin, the country’s richest businessman and president of metals giant Norilsk Nickel, has asked Russia not to take the assets of Western companies fleeing the country. In a message published on Norilsk Nickel’s Telegram account last week.
On March 3, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was sanctioned by the US government as the “chief propagandist” of the Russian Federation. Peskov’s wife and two of his adult children, including daughter Elizaveta Peskova, were also sanctioned by the United States on Friday. Peskova, who has more than 180,000 followers on Instagram, shared an antiwar message on her verified account with the hashtag # нетвойне, meaning “no to war,” the day after the invasion began. A few hours later, the message was deleted.