Oleg Tinkov gives up his Russian citizenship in protest

No prominent Russian has reacted to Putin’s war as sharply as Oleg Tinkov. The 54-year-old former banker living in London had already accused the Russian army of massacres in April and demanded an immediate end to the “insane and senseless war”. “Ninety percent of Russians are against the war,” he claimed at the time. Only a minority supports him. But in every country there are ten percent of such idiots.

Tinkow is not just any oligarch. The Tinkoff Bank he founded, with around 20 million customers, is one of the largest lenders in Russia. After his criticism of Moscow’s war, he was forced by the Kremlin to sell his shares in the bank.

Now Tinkow is drawing a line under his Russian history: he has decided to give up Russian citizenship, he said on his Instagram account on Monday evening. He no longer wanted to be associated with a country that had started a war with its peaceful neighbor and was killing innocent people every day. “It’s a shame for me to continue to have this passport,” he said. He shared a picture of a document confirming the “end” of his Russian citizenship.

Tinkow has lived mainly in London since he was diagnosed with leukemia a year ago. He can only voice his sharp criticism from abroad. Because in Russia, the authorities are cracking down on critics of the invasion of Ukraine. Any criticism is considered a disparagement of the army.

Despite his clear distancing from the Kremlin, as a Russian billionaire, Tinkov also fell under the sanctions imposed by Britain on Russia’s financial elite.

Oligarchs as pillars of the regime

Tinkov said in renouncing Russian citizenship that he hoped other business tycoons would also renounce their citizenship. In doing so, they were supposed to help weaken Putin’s regime and economy. This should ultimately contribute to Putin’s defeat.

Oligarchs are important pillars of power in Putin’s Russia. After the end of the Soviet Union – especially in the era of President Boris Yeltsin – entrepreneurs had accumulated enormous wealth, often using dubious methods and dubious deals. Putin also lets them do their thing, as long as they stick to his line.

Tinkow is not the only one

Tinkov is not the only wealthy Russian giving up citizenship. Nikolay Storonsky, the 38-year-old co-founder and head of London-based fintech startup Revolut, has also renounced his Russian citizenship, Bloomberg news agency reported on Monday.

Yuri Milner, the richest Russian in Silicon Valley, has also announced that he is giving up his Russian citizenship. In an Oct. 10 tweet, Milner, 60, said he and his family “left forever” in Russia after Crimea was annexed in 2014.

Kicked out of his flagship fintech bank

The flamboyant entrepreneur Tinkow made his first capital importing electronics before founding a brewery under his name. He finally became a billionaire by founding an internet bank. It is considered a model fintech company.

Tinkoff-Bank distanced itself from the criticism of its major shareholder in the spring. It was said that this “private opinion” would not be commented on. The founder of the company is no longer an employee of the bank and he has not been to Russia for a long time. At that time, Tinkow’s family trust still owned a little more than 35 percent of the bank. When the bank announced it would remove his name from the brand a week later, he sold his family’s stake to Russian entrepreneur, billionaire and one-time Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Potanin for an undisclosed amount. Its holding Interros controls, among other things, Nornickel and also took over Rosbank from the French Société Générale.