Oligarchs Circled Oleg Tinkov After Russian Tycoon Broke Ranks With Kremlin
Oleg Tinkov claims he was forced to sell his stake in the banking group he founded, Tinkoff, for a fraction of its value for speaking out against the war in Ukraine.built a nearly $8 billion fortune at his peak by elbowing his way into brewing, frozen goods and then banking. When he broke ranks with the Kremlin to criticize the invasion of Ukraine he appears to have crossed a red line.
Tinkov, who now lives outside Russia, quickly found himself being courted by two camps within Russia’s business elite. A handful of billionaires reached out to offer their private support for hisdenouncing the war in Ukraine, while several oligarchs approached him to buy his stake in one of Russia’s biggest banks, according to Tinkov.
That courtship quickly escalated as Tinkoff Bank, which was listed in London and Moscow, moved to rebrand and break ties with its founder following pressure from the Kremlin. “I was forced to sell,” says Tinkov in an interview withTinkov’s 35% remaining stake in the bank wasby nickel magnate Vladimir Potantin.
Tinkov stands out alongside Mikhail Fridman and Oleg Deripaska as being the few voices from Russia’s business elite to publicly criticize the war in Ukraine. The son of a Siberian coal miner says he felt compelled to speak out after his experience with cancer. “In my hematology ward, people died every other day but why should people die just because someone went crazy,” says Tinkov.
, which slammed the Russian military as “mired in nepotism, servility and subservience,” sparked a heated response on social media. “Of course, I fear especially for my family,” says Tinkov adding he was also concerned his Russian blood cancer foundation could be targeted. “I never had a bodyguard in my life but now I seriously consider it.”in October 2021. He stepped down as chairman of Tinkoff Bank in April 2020 after revealing his cancer diagnosis.
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