Russian tycoon Oleg Tinkov renounces citizenship over Ukraine war

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Russian banking tycoon Oleg Tinkov renounced his Russian citizenship while publicly condemning Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, saying he “cannot and will not be associated with a fascist state”.

He added Tuesday that he plans to revoke the name of Tinkoff Bank, a Russian commercial bank he founded in 2006, writing: “I hate that my brand/name is associated with a bank that works with killers and blood.”

The businessman announced in an Instagram post on Monday that he had ended his citizenship and shared an image of the official document proving his resignation, dated Oct. 10. 26. “I wish I had more prominent Russian businessmen following me, which would weaken Putin’s regime and his economy,” he said, adding: “I hate Putin’s Russia, but love all Russians who clearly oppose it This crazy war!”

The post was later deleted, and Tinkov said on Tuesday that it had “mysteriously disappeared” and speculated that it might be the work of “Kremlin trolls.”

Tinkov, who also reportedly holds Cypriot citizenship, is one of the few prominent Russian businessmen who has publicly criticized the invasion. He came out against the war in February and later condemned the invasion as “crazy”. He claims he was forced to sell his stake in Tinkoff Bank under pressure from Kremlin officials.

Despite his opposition to war, British authorities announced sanctions against Tinkov in March, freezing his assets in the UK, barring his personal ships and planes from entering British soil and preventing citizens and companies from doing business with him. Foreign ministry officials accused the 54-year-old of benefiting from his involvement with Tinkoff Bank or supporting the Russian government through it. A statement from the foreign ministry cited reports estimating his net worth at $3.9 billion at the time.

Last year, Tinkov also pleaded guilty to tax fraud in a criminal case in the United States.

Tinkov is the latest in a handful of Russian-born corporate executives to formally sever ties to their homeland.

Earlier this week, The Telegraph reported that Nikolay Storonsky, a prominent Russian executive who co-founded Revolut Bank, had renounced his citizenship.

In March, the Russian-Israeli oligarch Leonid Nevzlin renounced his citizenship, citing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Everything Putin touches will die,” Nevzlin wrote in a Facebook post. “I am against war. I am against occupation. I am against the genocide of the Ukrainian people.”

Oligarch renounces Russian citizenship, says ‘everything Putin touches will die’

In October, billionaire Yuri Milner announced on twitter After Russia’s annexation of Crimea, his family has “completed the procedure to renounce our Russian citizenship” and left the country “forever”.

Exiled oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russia’s richest man, had become one of Putin’s most high-profile critics before his arrest in 2003. In an interview with The Washington Post in London this year, he called on other prominent Russians who fled the country to condemn the invasion. “If you leave then you should publicly disassociate from yourself or we should be forced to suspect that you are acting [the Kremlin’s] representative,” he said.



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