Posted on 04/02/2023 11:12:27 AM PDT by dennisw
With palaces, planes, yachts
He is universally regarded as one of the richest men on earth.
Putin's surge to power - and incomprehensible wealth - began in the early 1990s in the aftermath of the Soviet Union's collapse.
He started his career in politics as an advisor to the mayor of St. Petersburg, before moving to Moscow and taking a job in the Kremlin where he rose through the ranks under the wing of President Boris Yeltsin, whom he replaced as President in 2000.
Russia was mired in economic turmoil after the Soviet Union fell and the government was in desperate need of money. Putin, who had a prominent position in the infamous KGB state security service prior to his move into politics, was involved in arranging the privatisation of state-owned assets.
Under Yeltsin, Putin and a host of economic advisers sold off these assets to a small group of businessmen for a fraction of their actual value and subsequently awarded them state contracts, creating a class of Russian oligarchs whose wealth skyrocketed while normal Russian citizens struggled by.
Putin and cronies not only received kickbacks from these sales, but effectively curated a Godfather-like arrangement with the oligarchs - riches in exchange for loyalty, and ultimately, subordination.
Russia's oligarchs quickly came to dominate key sectors of the economy such as oil and gas, mining and telecommunications, with lucrative returns.
But they know they owed their fortune to Putin, who has long maintained absolute power in Russia. As such, Putin is free to take and use what he likes, from whom he likes, and uses them as proxies to conceal his own personal wealth via a complex web of shell companies, offshore banks and secretive transactions.
But several estimates have valued his vast fortune as high as £200 billion or more
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
He is like our congress critters
The Big Guy’s 10% pails to Putin’s 50%.
Xi also has a massive fortune.
That’s why Putin and Xi think Biden is an idiot.
It is good to be king....
He owns platinum. Lots of platinum and the mine it comes from
Dr. Jill is furiously jealous.
Hold on a second. How did he buy this stuff? Didn’t your President, Demented Joe, sanction Putin 10 times over the past year?
DC and London compute Putin’s net worth in a dishonest manner. It f they did it the same here, they would claim Biden owned Air Force one, Comp David, etc etc.
Just more BS London and DC propaganda.
Joe needs to talk to him. He’s obviously getting more than just 10%.
Let the Russian people worry about THEIR corrupt politicians.
What concerns me is OUR corrupt politicians who do the SAME thing!
Every last one of them leaves office WAY richer than when they first entered.
-This is not “service”… it’s corruption.
Pro-Russian military blogger killed in St. Petersburg cafe explosion: reports
RUSSIA Published April 2, 2023 2:03pm EDT
Tatarsky was a prominent supporter of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine
By Anders Hagstrom | Fox News
https://www.foxnews.com/world/pro-russian-military-blogger-killed-explosion-st-petersburg-reports
The Bidens made something like $16 million the year after he left the Vice Presidency.
Politics is now about stealing money from the many and giving to the annointed few.
Joe Biden was sanctioning OTHER oligarchs in Russia, and Putin was offering to buy them out for maybe pennies on the dollar, which was a GREAT force multiplier for his aggregate holdings.
That’s a lower figure than I’ve heard, but yeah, the claim is that he is really the richest man in the world
Yeah, but he’s on death’s door now.
Like for the past year.
He is dying tonight.
Plans to throw him out the window last week hit a snag.
But fur sur...he’s going out the window...tonight! Heck, did you see the way he was hanging onto the table??
Xactly!
I am no defender of Putin other than I do hold the opinion that the West was integral in creating the Ukrainian crisis because we keep pushing NATO east.
However, the sanctions have hurt Russia and pretty badly at that. The sanctions, combined with our idiotic act of war on the pipeline, have robbed them of easy profit from natural gas and oil. Yes, they found new markets (primarily China/India), but their costs were already high and now you have to factor increased shipping costs into the equation.
They are putting up a good front, but they are under severe economic strain. Anyone who thinks they are doing just fine is not very serious or they are repeating a partisan talking point. When your economy is mostly dependent on exports of natural resources and your recovery costs are higher than world average (a readily conceded point for decades) you need prices high enough to provide profit.
Their “fire sale” of natural resources to Asia is coming at a cost and it will be a cumulative one. It’s not just oil... they are selling metal ores and other raw materials below their recovery costs. Russia is sitting on a lot of cash reserves (I believe) but they are running through those the longer the war in the Ukraine drags on.
Perhaps this is why the “West” is so hellbent on fighting them until the last drop of Ukrainian blood (besides our military industrial elites benefiting)?
For perspective, California has about 1/4 of the population of Russia but twice the GDP. Pretty sure that is right. Much of the California “GDP” is stock based (tech sector) but as big as the tech sector is for Calfornia it is smaller as a percentage of GDP than natural gas exports.
The sanctions hurt and they have had a crippling effect on Russia well prior to the current Ukrainian conflict even if they don’t harm Putin’s wealth or status as the richest person in the world.
Mmmm, nope.
I expect Pootie’s actions in communist society.
Everyone like Biden is a traitor to the foundation of OUR Republic. He’s OUR traitor and that makes him much worse. Becase he took an oath to uphold OUR Constitution and serve OUR people.
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