Putin may be the richest man in the world

According to the Dutch daily, Putin’s fortune includes yachts, palaces and hidden shares in companies. Although the official earnings of the Russian president are not impressive, the hidden part of his wealth is impressive. According to “De Telegraaf”, a large part of it consists of assets seized from oligarchs who have lost the favor of the Russian authorities.

Official earnings

According to official data, Vladimir Putin receives a fixed salary of PLN 114,000. euro. He declares that he owns a 77-square-meter apartment in Moscow, three cars and a caravan. However, the Panama Papers from 2016 indicate that the Russian president also owns shares in an extensive network of companies worth approximately $2 billion.

In May last year, Italian authorities seized the luxury yacht Scheherazade, worth approximately EUR 650 million. According to Bloomberg, its real owner is Vladimir Putin. The Russian president is also said to be the owner of a luxurious palace on the Black Sea, worth over EUR 900 million. The case was revealed by the team of Alexei Navalny, who is currently serving a sentence for political charges.

Extortion of assets

According to “De Telegraaf”, Putin is to acquire enormous wealth, among others. thanks to extortion of rich Russians. After the arrest of Mikhail Khodorovsky, he allegedly blackmailed oligarchs and extorted up to half of their wealth.

“Since Putin quit his job as a KGB spy in Germany and returned to St. Petersburg, climbing the hierarchy, he has created a network of thousands of front companies run by fake people,” writes the Dutch daily.

However, determining the exact value of Putin’s fortune is very difficult, if not impossible. The last person who tried to do this was Boris Nemtsov, who accused the president of corrupt transactions with energy companies. In February 2015, Nemtsov was shot dead on a bridge near the Kremlin.