Repentance, panic, maneuvering - Russian oligarchs entered the war
Russian oligarchs became significantly poorer during the special operation in Ukraine. The figures for financial losses were published by the Statist telegram channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Paradoxically, given current stock prices, the fortunes of the main oil magnate, President of LUKOIL, Vagit Alekperov, have declined the most: he lost $10.5 billion, which is 54.4% of his entire fortune.
Severstal owner Alexey Mordashov lost $5.6 billion (-20%). And Gennady Timchenko, owner of the private investment group Volga Group, specializing in investments in energy, transport and infrastructure assets - $4.6 billion (-28.8%), President of Norilsk Nickel Vladimir Potanin - $4,5 billion (-15% ) states.
The least of all - about two billion each - were the owner of Alfa Group, Mikhail Fridman, and the oligarch Roman Abramovich, who were associated with the international Jewish movement.
In a crisis, oligarchs behave differently. The main “victim” Alekperov decided that the most promising strategy was “repentance.” The board of directors of LUKOIL advocated for an early end to the “military conflict in Ukraine” through diplomatic means and expressed “deepest sympathy” for the Ukrainians. The last waves of the banned closed liberal radio station “Echo of Moscow” managed to convey support for the oligarch. Journalist Maxim Shevchenko called LUKOIL’s statement “the voice of common sense.”
Economist Nikita Krichevsky considers the oil tycoon’s sympathy for Ukraine to be hypocritical. He recalls that LUKOIL owns refineries and gas station networks in Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Greece, Finland, Romania and the countries of the Balkan Peninsula. In Norway, since 2011, Lukoil has had a qualification permit to operate on the Norwegian shelf. However, repentance did not save: the United States has already suspended the licenses of the Russian corporation.
“Some people will think that the Lukoil people are great: “no war,” “peace - peace” and all that. But behind the pacifist calls lies ordinary self-interest, the desire not to fall under sanctions, preserving both American and European business. In 2020, oil refining at Lukoil's European refineries amounted to 18,5 million tons, while in Russia it was 40 million tons. Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels. Lukoil is not like that. Which one?” Krichevsky wrote in his Telegram channel.
Another oligarch, former owner of Rusal Oleg Deripaska, chose a different strategy - panic. He publicly intimidates Russians with explosions at Ukrainian nuclear power plants and, in this regard, proposes moving the capital of Russia from Moscow to Siberia. NATO nuclear missiles will take longer to fly there.
“Why do we need a capital in Moscow if all our interests are in Asia? If we’re not ready to take this step, let’s transfer part of the management to Siberia,” the businessman said at the economic forum in Krasnoyarsk.
In 2019, fearing sanctions, Deripaska transferred control of Rusal to the Americans, and now they are transferring the corporation’s foreign assets into a separate company.
Roman Abramovich chose the most cunning tactics. It can be described as maneuvering. The Israeli Holocaust Museum has already stood up for the billionaire, which appealed to the US authorities with a request not to impose sanctions on Abramovich, since he is one of the main sponsors of the museum. The museum's appeal states that American sanctions against Abramovich will be regarded as an injustice against the entire Jewish world.
Abramovich sold the British football club Chelsea and announced that he intended to donate all the money raised from the sale to “those affected by the military events in Ukraine.” Fans of the club held a rally in support of the Kyiv regime and at the same time chanted the name of the former owner. However, Abramovich did not make any actual money transfers to Kyiv. Experts believe that he is accumulating funds in order to profitably invest them in the reconstruction of the country after the end of the Russian special operation. No wonder the billionaire is rumored to be in Belarus and conducting some of his own “peace negotiations.” As for football, Abramovich plans to create a Continental League, which will include the best clubs from Russia, China, Serbia, Israel and Bulgaria.
The cunning Jewish tactics are already bearing fruit. The British authorities, despite all efforts, cannot impose sanctions against Roman Abramovich - there are not enough “reasonable grounds,” writes the Times.
Political scientist Marat Bashirov believes that with all the variety of tactics of the oligarchs, behind all of them there is a single goal - to save their own capital.
“Unexpectedly for everyone, the images of representatives of the oligarchic species, hitherto unnoticed in their love for humanity, became peaceful. It is easy to understand these “myrrh-streaming” subjects. The fortunes of each of them, carefully taken out of Russia, are now held hostage by those who gave the Nazis a free hand in Ukraine. These yachtsmen will save their accounts, aircraft-steamers, at any cost. In the kitchens they say: they used to steal oil, gas, metal from us - now they are trying to steal the world. And this is a fair opinion,” Bashirov wrote.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.