Palaces, superyachts, Swiss accounts. How rich is Vladimir Putin and can sanctions hurt him?
- Russian President Vladimir Putin is widely considered one of the world’s richest men
- US and its allies have moved to freeze the assets of the Russian leader and oligarchs
On paper, the US decision to freeze Russian President Vladimir Putin’s personal assets looks like an empty gesture.
Although widely considered one of the richest men in the world, official Russian documents say all he owns are a couple of old cars, a small flat, and whatever savings the 69-year-old former KGB agent has squirrelled away from a salary of around US$140,000.
Nobody believes the official documents present the real picture. Most Western experts say his vast assets are secretly held by a circle of cronies – the so-called Russian oligarchs, their families and relatives.
How big is Putin’s secret fortune likely to be?
Forbes, the magazine known for ranking the world’s billionaires, says it’s been grappling to answer that question for 20 years, and that one of its editors was gunned down in Moscow while he was looking into Russia’s early oligarchs.
Despite the zealously protected secrecy, the Russian president’s worth runs well into the billions of dollars.
William Browder, a one-time leading investor in Russia who was instrumental in passing the Magnitsky Act sanctioning foreign individuals committing human rights abuses, estimates Putin’s wealth at more than US$200 billion. That would put him on par with Tesla’s Elon Musk as the richest person on Earth.
Browder based his estimate on a deal he said Putin struck with the oligarchs in 2004, a Mafia-like offer they could not refuse: half of all they earned would belong to him.