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How Putin eliminated the oligarchs: Who opposed the war, lost wealth or life

2025-12-28 22:11:24Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
How Putin eliminated the oligarchs: Who opposed the war, lost wealth or life
Russia of billionaires, oligarchs in the service of war and Putin

Despite the war in Ukraine and Western sanctions, the number of billionaires in Russia has reached a record high, reports the BBC.

However, in Vladimir Putin's 25 years in power, the country's richest have lost almost all political influence, turning into silent and completely controlled supporters of the Kremlin.

In the years that Putin has been at the helm of the country, Russian oligarchs have almost completely lost the influence they once had in decision-making centers.

For the Russian president, this development is considered a success. Western sanctions have failed to turn his wealthy compatriots into opponents of the regime, while the “carrot and stick” strategy has led them to a state of tacit support.

A typical example is former billionaire banker Oleg Tinkov. The day after he described the war as “crazy” in an Instagram post, executives at his company received a call from the Kremlin. The message was clear: Tinkoff Bank, Russia’s second-largest bank at the time, would be taken over by the state unless all ties to its founder were severed.

"I couldn't negotiate the price. I was like a hostage. Take whatever they offer you. I couldn't negotiate," Tinkov told the New York Times.

A few days later, a company linked to Vladimir Potan, Russia's fifth-richest man and a major supplier of nickel for fighter jet engines, announced the purchase of the bank. According to Tinkov, the sale was for just 3% of its real value. He lost nearly $9 billion of his fortune and fled Russia.

The current picture is a far cry from the post-Soviet period, when a group of Russians bought up large state-owned enterprises and became rich by exploiting the opportunities of the new capitalism. The wealth of that era translated into political influence and power, creating the phenomenon of oligarchs.

The most powerful of them, Boris Berezovsky, had claimed to have helped Putin ascend to the presidency in 2000. In 2012, he apologized for that choice, writing that he had not foreseen “the future greedy tyrant and usurper.” A year later, Berezovsky was found dead under mysterious circumstances while in exile in the United Kingdom—a period in which the Russian oligarchy had effectively ended.

When, on February 24, 2022, hours after ordering a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Putin gathered Russia’s wealthiest men in the Kremlin. Those present knew their wealth would take a severe hit. Yet their options for response were minimal. “I hope that in these new conditions we will cooperate just as well and effectively,” he told them. A journalist who was at the meeting described them as “pale and sleepless.”

According to Forbes, in the two months to April 2022, the number of Russian billionaires fell from 117 to 83, due to the war, sanctions and the fall of the ruble. In total, they lost $263 billion, or an average of 27% of their wealth.

But the years that followed showed that the war economy created new opportunities. Increased military spending fueled growth of more than 4% in 2023 and 2024, benefiting even those billionaires who did not directly benefit from defense contracts.

By 2024, more than half of Russia’s billionaires were either involved in supplying the military or profiting from the invasion, according to Giacomo Tonini. As he told the BBC, anyone doing business in Russia “must have a relationship with the government.” That same year, Russia added a record 140 billionaires to the Forbes list, with a combined fortune of $580 billion — just $3 billion below its pre-invasion peak.

While the benefits were there for the faithful, the Kremlin punished those who challenged its line in an exemplary manner. Russians still remember the case of oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who spent 10 years in prison after forming a pro-democracy organization in 2001 and nationalizing Yukos.

After the invasion, almost all Russian tycoons went silent, while those who publicly opposed it fled the country, losing much of their wealth. Although many of them were targeted by Western sanctions, the goal of turning against the Kremlin was not achieved.

“The West did everything it could to rally Russian billionaires around the flag,” notes Alexander Kolyandr of the Center for European Policy Analysis, explaining that freezing accounts and seizing assets ultimately strengthened Putin’s control.

The void left by the departure of foreign companies after the invasion was filled by pro-Kremlin businessmen, who acquired lucrative assets at low prices. As Alexandra Prokopenko of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center argues, this created a “new army of active and influential loyalists” whose well-being depends on continued confrontation with the West.

In 2024 alone, 11 new billionaires emerged in Russia this way. Despite the war and sanctions – and, in some cases, thanks to them – Putin maintains tight control over the major players on the Russian economic and political scene.


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