Russian oligarchs withdrew at least $50B from Europe - Bloomberg

Russian billionaires, burdened by international sanctions and pressured by Putin to repatriate their wealth, have withdrawn tens of billions of dollars in assets from Europe after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

According to Ukrinform, Bloomberg reported this.

"Russian billionaires, squeezed by international sanctions and facing pressure from President Vladimir Putin to repatriate their wealth, have pulled assets worth tens of billions from Europe since the invasion of Ukraine," the report said.

Last month, the shareholders of United Medical Group Cy PLC and MD Medical Group Investments PLC, controlled by tycoons Igor Shilov and Mark Kurtser, approved the relocation of the companies from Cyprus to Russia.

According to Bloomberg, this will increase the total value of assets transferred by the richest Russians since February 2022 to at least USD 50 billion.

The move breaks a long-standing practice of Russian billionaires to keep their assets in Europe, taking advantage of investor-friendly legal systems, the ability to receive dividends in foreign currency, and low taxes.

The richest Russians have fewer and fewer places to keep their wealth, as many of them are under U.S., UK or EU sanctions.

Read also: EU extends sanctions over violating Ukraine’s territorial integrity for next six months

Now Russia seems less of an evil than a foreign country, said Natalia Kuznetsova, a partner at Business Solutions and Technologies, which used to work in Russia under the Deloitte brand.

The relocation of assets to Russia and countries the Kremlin considers friendly, such as the United Arab Emirates and Kazakhstan, began shortly after the invasion of Ukraine.

Among the first transfers were the family holdings of fertilizer billionaire Andrey Guryev and steel magnate Viktor Rashnikov from Switzerland and Cyprus to Russia. Later, other Russians followed, including billionaire Igor Altushkin.

As reported, Russian oligarchs play a significant role in the war in Ukraine, with at least 81 people on Forbes' 200 Richest Russians list openly involved in supplying the Russian army.