Estimates of the articles content to exceed $100 billion
Official records show that Russian President Vladimir Putin is presiding a ministerial meeting remotely in Moscow on the 10th. 2022.03.11.
[Seoul=Newsis] Reporter Im Jong-myung = Russian President Vladimir Putin is being sanctioned by Western countries after the invasion of Ukraine, but it is predicted that sanctions will not be easy as Putins luxurious assets are hidden.
CNN reported on the 17th, citing comments from Russian experts that there was literally no documentary evidence of Putins property.
According to the New York Times on 26th of last month, little is known about Putins current ownership and exact wealth. But he said it was estimated to be over $100 billion.
Rumors over the years have suggested that Putin owns Putins Palace, a mega-mansion on the Black Sea coast. The mansion is estimated to be worth more than $1 billion, and according to a documentary produced by the anti-corruption group of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, it has an amphitheater, an underground hockey rink and a private harbor. It is a prohibited area.
He also owned the $100 million luxury yacht Gracepool, dubbed Putins yacht. It is known that there are three more yachts and 58 aircraft.
An official from Hermitage Capital, once Russias largest investor, testified before the US Congress in 2017 that Putins fortune could reach 240 trillion won.
However, according to the official financial disclosure in 2020, it was reported that N also could not confirm the connection between Putin and the palace or yacht for a small apartment of 22 pyeong, earning $ 140,000 annually. The Kremlin even dismissed reports of Putins hidden wealth.
Russias corruption expert Nate Sivly said Putins past was a symbol of luxury that could never be enjoyed by government salaries.
Putins palace, for example, was built with Oligarchs funds, and Putin has shared wealth with them instead of blinding them to their corruption.
Sibli said Putin was believed to have amassed a hidden fortune by these means early in his career.
Some Russian experts said it could be difficult for Putin to feel the pain caused by Western sanctions, as all but officially disclosed properties are in borrowed names.
According to the Irma Pandora Papers released by the International Association of Investigative Journalists, a woman reported to be Putins lover owns a four-story apartment in Monaco worth $4.1 million.
She is said to have owned a ski resort, several luxury apartments in St. Petersburg and a yacht.
Putins ex-wife is said to own an expensive villa in the south of France.
Tom Burgess, author of Kleptopia, a book on international money laundering, said it doesnt matter that property or other possessions are not in his name.
Burgess likened Putin to a godfather. He said that Putin, as he has done in the past, can get everything with the lift of a finger, and that no matter how influential the oligarchs appear, they are ultimately dependent on Putin.
Leaked documents show that some of Putins close associates secretly amassed vast wealth outside Russia during Putins reign. Accounts are hidden from each other like Russian Matryoshka dolls, and their wealth is covered by a complex web of ghost companies, offshore finance and hidden transactions.
Russia has the most wealth hidden in tax havens, according to a 2020 report released by the American think tank Atlantic Commission. This is estimated as a percentage of gross domestic product. On average, 10% of world GDP is abroad, but in Russia, as of 2015, it was found that about 60% of it was abroad.
Experts said a quarter of this black money is indirectly controlled by Putin and oligarchy, posing a serious national security threat to the United States.
Gary Coleman, the US secretary-general of the anti-corruption organization Transparency International, said the sanctions would not be easy to enforce. Hes going to hit a wall someday, so the sanction attempt is very difficult. He said there were literally no traces on the paper.
