Russia Ukraine war: Vladimir Putin’s mystery billions face more sanctions

Vladimir Putin’s personal wealth has been hit with more sanctions as the world tries to crucify him— and there are tantalising clues as to where he has stashed his fortune.

The US and its European allies have announced new sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s personal wealth but the move may be purely symbolic because little is known about where it might be.

Forbes magazine, which counts sleuthing the personal fortunes of the world’s elite as part of its core mission, said figuring out Putin’s net worth is “probably the most elusive riddle in wealth hunting.”

According to official disclosures from the Kremlin, the Russian president earns an income of US$140,000 and owns three cars, a trailer, and an 800-square-foot apartment. He also uses a 1,600-square-foot apartment in Moscow.

Putin is believed to be among the world’s richest people but his actual wealth is not known, Fortune reports.

Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 2, 2022. Picture: Mikhail Klimentyev / AFP.

However, experts estimate it to be between US$70bn and $200bn in assets – mostly property hidden behind complex financial schemes organised by his confidantes, according to a 2016 “Panama Papers” report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

The Russian leader’s fortune is believed to be stashed away in offshore tax havens, invested in luxury properties inside and outside Russia, and spread out among the accounts of his family members and trusted friends.

Stanislav Belkovsky, a Russian political analyst and Putin critic, estimated that Putin had a net worth of $70bn in 2012 for The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, based on claims that the Russian president has stakes in Russian oil and gas companies like Gazprom and Surgutneftegas.

Anders Aslund, Swedish economist and author of Russia’s Crony Capitalism: The Path from Market Economy to Kleptocracy, gives a higher estimate, arguing that Putin has somewhere between $100 billion and $150bn in assets. Aslund based his calculation on the wealth of Putin’s confidants. The economist estimates Putin’s friends hold between $500m and $2bn each on behalf of the Russian president.

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Bill Brody, an American financier who ran one of the biggest investment firms in Russia in 1996-2005, testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee in July 2017 that Putin had “accumulated $200bn of ill-gotten gains.”

Browder told CNN in 2018 that Putin’s “wealth came as a result of extortion and massive theft from state funds.”

Browder based his calculation on his belief that Putin ordered Russia’s richest oligarchs to offer him half of their wealth in the wake of the 2003 arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the founder of oil company Yukos and once Russia’s wealthiest person, who was jailed for fraud.

‘Putin's Palace’ in Russia. Picture: Flickr

‘Putin’s Palace’ is thought to be the biggest home in Russia, with a wine cave, theatre, gym, pool, "aquadisco" and hockey rink. Picture: Twitter/ Alec Luhn.

His most lavish property is nestled on the cliffs of Black Sea and reportedly cost more than $1bn to build. “Putin’s Palace” includes a spa, a movie theatre, a teahouse, a wine cellar, a casino, a hookah lounge, a pole-dancing disco, a helipad, a hockey-rink, a church and even a gold-plated toilet, the NY Post reports.

The residence is protected by Fort Knox-level security, including an unscalable fence and a border checkpoint. It is not accessible by ground, sea or air. The airspace above the palace and approaches by water are highly restricted. In his investigation report of Putin’s wealth,

Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny called this property “a state within a state,” “not a residence” but an “entire city” — “more likely a kingdom” within Russia.

Originally published as Russia Ukraine war: Vladimir Putin’s mystery billions face more sanctions