The Kremlin forced a banker to sell the bank for 3% of the real value.
In an interview with The New York Times businessman Oleg Tinkov said that after his anti-war post, the presidential administration contacted the management of the bank he had created and threatened to nationalize it if the company did not sever ties with the founder.
It will be recalled that in his post on April 19, Tinkov called the invasion of Ukraine a “mad war” and criticized the state of the Russian army. After that, Tinkoff announced that it would change its name, and last week it became known that the founder sold a 35% stake to Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin.
In an interview, Tinkov called it a “desperate sale, a discount sale.” , imposed on him by the Kremlin: “I could not discuss the price. I was held hostage – you take what is offered to you. I couldn't agree. “
He added that the Kremlin had threatened management to nationalize the bank if the company's name and name were not changed. Tinkov says he is grateful to Potanin for helping him get at least some money out of business. He did not name the amount of the deal, but said he had sold the company for only 3% of what he considered to be the true value of the business. “Sold for pennies,” sums up the businessman, whose fortune was estimated at nearly $ 5 billion before Forbes.
Tinkov said he hired security guards after friends with Russian intelligence officials told him he should fear for his life. Tinkov ironically says that although he survived leukemia, he may now be killed by the Kremlin. “I was told, 'The decision is yours.' I don't know if that means they will kill me. I do not rule it out, “said Tinkov.
The ex-banker also assessed what was happening in the country:” I realized that Russia as a country no longer exists. ” At the same time, he predicts that Putin will remain in power for a long time. “I thought Putin's regime was bad. But, of course, I did not expect that it would reach such catastrophic proportions, “Tinkov continues. According to him, nothing is likely to change during Putin's lifetime. “I do not believe in the future of Russia,” he said.
The Kremlin did not respond to a request for comment. Tinkoff said that “no threats were received from the bank's management.” At the same time, he hopes that the British government will eventually “correct this mistake.”
According to the ex-banker, the elite is “shocked” by the war, and many called him to offer support. “They understand that they are connected to the West, that they are part of the world market and so on,” says Tinkov. – And they are quickly turning into Iran. And they don't like it. They want their children to spend their summer holidays in Sardinia. Tinkov says he was made bolder by complications from leukemia treatment.
Read also: Journalists have found Putin's two sons. Both were born after the invasion of Ukraine
Earlier, experts said that Russia has changed tactics, next week will determine the course of the war.
