Theories emerge on how Russian President Vladimir Putin amassed $200 billion fortune
As the threat of a Ukraine-Russian war looms, all eyes are on Vladimir Putin, with questions being raised about the leader’s rumoured multibillion-dollar fortune.
With everyone closely watching Russia’s every move as it sits poised for an invasion of Ukraine, fresh questions have begun to swirl around the country’s leader and his mysterious fortune.
Questions over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s personal wealth comes as US President Joe Biden revealed plans to impose new sanctions on two breakaway regions in Ukraine.
The announcement came after Mr Putin declared he would recognise the independence of these two regions, prompting Mr Biden to announce he would issue an executive order “that will prohibit new investment, trade and financing by US persons to, from, or in” the areas.
This has brought the focus back to the Russian President’s vast personal wealth, though his exact net worth is still unclear.
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According to the Kremlin, Mr Putin earns around 8.6 million roubles a year ($A149,000), but, according to experts, this is far from the true extent of his wealth.
The Russian leader is rumoured to own multiple homes, fleets of yachts, cars and even secret presidential palaces worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
Former Russian government adviser Stanislav Belkovsky recently estimated his fortune to be worth around $US70 billion ($A97.4 billion), while US hedge fund manager Bill Browder told The Washington Post it was more like $US200 billion ($A278.4 billion).
There are others who believe his true net worth could be even higher.
Top theories on how Putin made his money
A recent investigation by Forbes has uncovered three main theories into how Mr Putin amassed his multibillion-dollar fortune.
One theory relates to a Russian oligarch named Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was once believed to be the richest man in Russia with an estimated $15 billion fortune.
In 2003, he was imprisoned on charges of fraud and tax evasion, accusations which he has continually denied.
It is widely accepted that Mr Putin was behind Mr Khodorkovsky’s imprisonment, with his arrest coming just months after he criticised the Russian leader over state corruption during a meeting.
Mr Khodorkovsky’s fortune was frozen and his hugely successful company was broken up.
Mr Browder believes Mr Putin may have used this arrest to cut deals with all the other wealthy Russian oligarchs.
“The deal was, ‘You give me 50 per cent of your wealth and I’ll let you keep the other 50 per cent,’” Mr Browder told Forbes.
“If you don’t, he’ll take 100 per cent of your wealth and throw you in jail.”
Browder described Putin to the US Senate Judiciary Committee in 2017 as “one of the richest men in the world”.
“I estimate that he has accumulated $200 billion of ill-gotten gains from these types of operations over his 17 years in power,” Mr Browder said.
The second theory is that Mr Putin grew his wealth by using his government influence to help his close friends and family earn money.
Forbes suggests that those in his inner circle then offer him cash or stakes in the companies they acquire as a result of his help.
Many of the Russian leader’s childhood friends and close allies have gained a vast amount of wealth over the years.
For example, his former son-in-law Kirill Shamalov, became a billionaire at 34 after being allowed to borrow money from private banking company Gazprombank so he could buy a 17 per cent stake in the company Sibur from one of Mr Putin’s friends, Gennady Timchenko.
Another one of Mr Putin’s friends, Arkady Rotenbergm received more than $7 billion in various state contracts in the lead-up to the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
The third and final theory is known as the Bluster Model, according to Forbes.
This theory explores the possibility that Mr Putin actually doesn’t have vast amounts of mysterious wealth and, instead, just likes people to think he does.
Bloomberg columnist Leonid Bershidsky suggested that the Russian President actually has no need for personal wealth when he wields such power.
“He has the whole country at his beck and call,” Bershidsky wrote in 2013.
“It is enough for Putin to snap his fingers, and state-owned companies will cede assets to his friends at bargain-basement prices. A whisper from him, and wealthy private businessmen will chip in for the lavish refurbishment of a presidential residence.”
Russian tanks move over the border
Tensions in Europe are at boiling point after Russian President Vladimir Putin made a provocative, unexpected move which insiders believe has escalated the threat of all-out war.
After officially acknowledging two pro-Russian, rebel Ukrainian territories, Mr Putin immediately sent troops across the border for “peacekeeping”.
Footage has already shown “columns of equipment” from Russia entering Ukraine, sparking fears war is imminent.
Hans Kristensen, the director of the Federation of American Scientists Nuclear Information Project, took to Twitter this morning to share information that the Russian invasion “appears to have started” just hours after Vladimir Putin broke international law to recognise the two rebel Ukrainian regions.
Columns of equipment from the Russian Federation entered the territories of the republics of Donbas. pic.twitter.com/El7ZAYed6n
— 301🇦🇲 (@301_AD) February 21, 2022
According to independent Russian news agency Interfax, eyewitnesses have claimed “two columns of armoured vehicles are on the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and follow to the north and west of the republic”.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a tweet he was “urgently preparing an address” in response to the move, and that he had been speaking with world leaders.
It comes as Russia claimed that five Ukrainian “saboteurs” have been killed while attempting to breach the border, and after US President Joe Biden and Mr Putin yesterday agreed in principle to participate in a summit over the Ukraine crisis – on the proviso Russia does not invade the nation.
Around three-quarters of Russia’s total forces have reportedly been deployed against Ukraine, with almost 200,000 Russian and separatist forces positioned in the area near the border.
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