It was officially announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is running for a fifth term in March this year, earned ‘approximately one billion won’ over the past six years. Reportedly, Putin claimed he owns only one small apartment and garage. However, there is much speculation that President Putin, a former secret agent, might have concealed unimaginable wealth without any trace on paper.
"According to presidential candidate information released by the Russian Central Election Commission, President Putin reported income of 67,591,875 rubles (about 1 billion won) from 2017 to 2022,” Russia's state-run Interfax news agency reported on Dec. 20.
Putin owns humble assets. He holds 54,416,604 rubles (about 809 million won) in 10 bank accounts and 230 St. Petersburg PJSC Bank shares. The stock is priced at 280.49 rubles per share on the Moscow Exchange,
For the presidential election to be held from March 15 to 17, President Putin registered as an independent candidate with the National Election Commission on Dec. 15-17 and disclosed his assets. Russian presidential candidates must disclose income and asset information for six years before the election year.
However, not many people trust the reports. There is speculation that President Putin's hidden assets are enormous. “There is literally no paper trail,” CNN cited Russian experts. Bill Browder, CEO of Hermitage Capital, Russia's largest investment firm, testified before the U.S. Congress in 2017 that Putin's wealth could reach 200 billion dollars.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's anti-corruption group claimed that Putin "owns a 'Putin palace' on the Black Sea coast." The mansion, which features an amphitheater, an underground hockey rink, and a private port, is estimated to be worth more than 1 billion dollars. It is also reported that he has 58 types of aircraft and four yachts, including the luxury yacht named ‘Graceful’ worth 100 million dollars. According to the so-called ‘Pandora Papers’ released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in 2021, an anonymous woman reported to be one of Putin’s lovers owns an apartment worth 4.1 million dollars in Monaco.
Eun-A Cho achim@donga.com