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Vladimir Putin earns a modest annual salary of $140,000, according to official Kremlin documents.
The Russian president would lead the life of a “humble statesman,” with reported assets of an “800-square-foot apartment, a caravan and three cars,” Fortune said.
But some experts say the 72-year-old is one of the richest people on the planet, with potentially billions in undisclosed sources of income and assets.
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Putin “often eyes high-end luxury watches that sell for several times his expected annual income,” Fortune said, and is rumored to own several houses and a slew of cars, as well as dozens of planes and helicopters. Training
His “luxurious lifestyle was highlighted,” the British Foreign Office said in May 2022 following the outbreak of war with Ukraine and the announcement of new sanctions against Russia. The branch said reports had revealed links to a yacht worth £566m and the so-called $1bn “Putin’s Palace”, officially owned by close aide Arkady Rotenberg.
The public origin of Putin’s wealth remains a mystery. One theory is that he “forced Russian oligarchs” to hand over money and corporate stock, “threatening them with arrest or worse” if they refused, CNN said.
Another is the “mafia model,” Forbes said, in which Putin helps his friends and family “enrich themselves by giving them government contracts or giving them ownership of companies” and receives “bribes” in return.
It’s also suggested that perhaps Putin has “little money of his own” but “simply likes people to think he does”. The “appearance of having it” is enough and the “power that it would otherwise confer” is available through his unassailable position in the state, meaning Putin may simply not “need personal wealth”.
Tracking down Putin’s wealth is “probably the most elusive puzzle in the pursuit of riches,” reported Forbes, which says it has been grappling with the Putin mystery for “20 years. “
Putin’s Russia has been described by Transparency International as a kleptocracy or “rule by thieves. “
When the UK announced it would personally sanction Putin over the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, then-foreign secretary Liz Truss said the Russian president’s lifestyle was “funded through a cabal of family, friends and elites” and that their “reward is influence. ” “on Russian state affairs that goes far beyond their formal positions. “
In a rare glimpse into the personal finances of those around him, the 2016 Panama Papers revealed a web of secret overseas deals and loans worth $2 billion that targeted Putin.
“Although the president’s call does not appear in any of the documents, the knowledge shows a trend,” The Guardian said. “His friends have made millions from deals that couldn’t have been made without his support. “
Given that “Russia’s richest people added $72 billion to their fortunes” in the year ending in April, it’s unlikely that punitive sanctions would have had much effect on Putin’s private assets, Reuters said.
The country’s “war-focused economic growth” has “stifled the impact of Western sanctions”. However in the long-term that economic bounce is “masking problems” related to Russian living standards.
Effective sanctions have long been a challenge for the West, because “the formula that built Putin’s wealth has also thwarted U. S. and European efforts to punish him,” USA Today reported in 2022. “Each sanctions circular raises new questions about whether those efforts can be effective by the kind that holds the wealth of an entire country their own. “
Richard Windsor is a freelance editor at The Week Digital. He began his journalism career writing about politics and games while reading at the University of Southampton. He then worked in football publications before specializing in cycling for almost nine years, covering primary races including the Tour de France and interviewing some of the sport’s most productive cyclists. He ran Cycling Weekly’s virtual platforms as editor for seven of those years, helping to build the publication into the UK’s largest cycling website. He now works as a freelance editor, publisher and consultant.