Tycoon Oleg Tinkov is founder of digital bank Tinkoff (Credit: Instagram Oleg Tinkov)
Some billionaires have renounced Russian citizenship due to the invasion of Ukraine. Tycoon Oleg Tinkov, founder of digital bank Tinkoff, announced last week that he had renounced Russian citizenship for disagreeing with the invasion. “I made the decision to give up my Russian citizenship. I cannot and do not want to be associated with a fascist country that is unleashing a war with its peaceful neighbor and killing innocent people on a daily basis,” Tinkov wrote on Instagram. Tinkov’s fortune is estimated at $8.2 billion.
The founder and CEO of digital bank Revolut, Nikolay Storonsky, made the same decision. “Nik is a British citizen. Earlier this year, he renounced his birth citizenship to Russia. His stance on war is on the public record: war is utterly abhorrent and he remains resolute in calling for an immediate end to fighting,” a Revolut spokesperson said, according to Bloomberg publication.
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In October, Moscow-born billionaire and Silicon Valley investor Yuri Milner renounced his Russian citizenship. According to the executive, he and his family “left Russia for good” in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea and now the process of renouncing citizenship has been officially completed. The tech industry’s top entrepreneur distanced his company from Russia after the invasion drew condemnation and sanctions from Western governments. Milner’s fortune is estimated at around $3.5 billion.
Ruben Vardanyan, a Russian of Armenian descent with a $1.3 billion fortune, renounced his citizenship in September. He is a former director of investment bank Troika Dialog and denied that his decision was based on the risk of Western sanctions. Vardanyan claims the resignation was in support of the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is officially part of Azerbaijan, where he lives.
In June, the founder of investment firm Freedom Finance, Timur Turlov, renounced his citizenship and became a citizen of Kazakhstan. He is worth an estimated $2.3 million, according to Forbes magazine. Turlov says he has difficulties in maintaining Russian business in an American holding company due to the ban on American investment in Russia.
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