The Kremlin released the presidential administration’s wealth declarations on Friday, with Vladimir Putin appearing in public scripts with modest incomes, even lower than those of his employees. In reality, however, according to independent assessments, Putin’s fortune is colossal.
According to the Kremlin’s wealth statement, Vladimir Putin had an annual income of 10.2 million rubles in 2021, which is about $ 120,000 USD, or $ 10,000 per month.
Poorer than his subordinate, Vladimir Medinsky, Russia’s chief negotiator with Ukraine, who declared an annual income of 108 million rubles.
In terms of property, Vladimir Putin declares a 77-square-meter apartment and an 18-square-meter garage. It has two old Gaz M21 cars, and a Lada Niva with a Skif trailer.
What would really be Vladimir Putin’s fortune? His opponents are talking about $ 200 billion
However, opponents of the Kremlin leader say that in reality, Vladimir Putin’s fortune would be around 200 billion dollars.
The $ 200 billion figure was overshadowed by financier Bill Browder, who testified in the US Senate in 2017 that Putin had amassed most of his wealth after a Moscow court sent the oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky to jail in 2003.
“After Khodorkovsky was convicted, the other oligarchs went to Putin and asked him what he should do to avoid being in the same cell as Khodorkovsky. From what followed, Putin’s response appears to have been “50 percent”, he said.
Boris Nemtsov, one of the fiercest critics of Vladimir Putin, assassinated in 2015, claimed that the Russian president had 43 planes, 700 cars and 15 helicopters, including a jet aircraft.
A huge palace on the shores of the Black Sea, valued at $ 1.2 billion USD
Alexei Navalny has accused Vladimir Putin of being the beneficiary of a large property and a palace near the Russian town of Gelendzhik on the Black Sea coast.
This luxurious ensemble features vineyards, an ice hockey hall and even a casino. The construction was financed, says the opponent, by relatives of the Russian president, such as Rosneft director Igor Secin or businessman Ghenadi Timchenko.
According to Navalny, 100 billion rubles ($ 1.2 billion USD) were spent on the construction of this complex with a total area of 7,000 hectares, “39 times larger than Monaco”. Officially, the complex is owned by the FSB, the Russian secret service.
The complex is also equipped with a tunnel dug through the mountains leading to the Black Sea. A church was even built in the complex. The palace alone is almost 18,000 square meters.
Russian businessman Arkady Rotenberg, however, said he was the owner of the huge palace in southern Russia, which Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny had linked to President Vladimir Putin.
Navalny also claimed that the $ 700 million Yeherezada yacht belonged to Vladimir Putin. So is the Graceful yacht, valued at $ 100 million, according to the NYT.
He has also linked Vladimir Putin to a $ 4.1 million property in Monaco. It was bought by a offshore company that is said to be managed by the Kremlin leader’s girlfriend. A villa in southern France is also linked to the Russian president’s ex-wife.