The founder of one of Russia’s biggest banks, Oleg Tinkov, has denounced president Vladimir Putin in his first interview since Russia invaded
Ukraine in February, and said he could be in physical danger.
“I’ve realised that Russia, as a country, no longer exists,” Tinkov told the
New York Times from an undisclosed location, but predicted that Putin would stay in power a long time. “I believed that the Putin regime was bad. But of course, I had no idea that it would take on such catastrophic scale.
The 54-year-old
made headlines in April when he offered some of the strongest criticism by a prominent Russian of the Kremlin’s military action, writing in an Instagram post that 90% of Russians were “against this war” and calling Russia’s forces a “shit army”.
“And how will the army be good, if everything else in the country is shit and mired in nepotism, sycophancy and servility?” he wrote.
In Sunday’s interview, he said that many of his acquaintances in the business and government elite had told him privately that they agreed with him, “but they are all afraid”.
He also said that he had been forced by the Kremlin to sell his 35% stake in the bank he founded, Tinkoff, to a Russian mining billionaire for a fraction of what it was worth. The “fire sale” took place last week, said Tinkov. “It was like a hostage – you take what you are offered.”
Tinkoff denied his characterisation of events.
Tinkov also said he had hired bodyguards after friends with contacts in the Russian security services told him he should fear for his life.