His secret girlfriend has lots of secret wealth.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s longtime mistress has an estimated net worth of $100 million in “shadow wealth,” including swanky apartments and a yacht, despite her modest background, a trove of newly leaked documents reveal.
Svetlana Krivonogikh, 46, has been romantically linked with the Russian strongman since he was still deputy mayor of her hometown of St. Petersburg, and reportedly has a daughter with him.
But Krivonogikh — who grew up in a communal apartment — and other Putin cronies have been enriched through shell companies in the Virgin Islands and elsewhere, the Guardian reported.
In September 2003, an offshore company called Brockville Development Limited — through two other Panamanian companies — bought her a luxury fourth-floor apartment in Monte Carlo. She’s also acquired a flat in St. Petersburg and other valuable assets, according to the reporting.
Krivonogikh is far from alone in benefiting from a long-standing relationship with Putin.
For years Russia’s inner circle has gravitated to Monaco, where lax tax laws and policies have made the waterfront city a favorite for the wealthy.
It has become Moscow-on-Sea. The mentality is to show off,” local lawyer Dominique Anastasis told the Guardian. “Nobody asks where your money comes from. There’s no culture of checking. You don’t make a tax declaration.”
Among the wealthiest of the Russian-Monaco circle is Gennady Timchenko, a former Soviet bureaucrat who has been friends with Putin since the 1990s.
A former oil trader, Timchenko was given an oil export license by Putin in 1991, and later co-founded a Swiss-based oil export company named Gunvor — with the Russian president long rumored to be a silent partner in the firm.
Forbes reported Timchenko’s net worth at $22 billion, the outlet said.
Another member of Putin’s inner circle is Peter Kolbin, an old family friend, who took over as director of Leningrad-based International Petroleum Products in 2003 despite having few qualifications for the job.
Putin has denied ties to the lucrative companies detailed in the Pandora Papers.
But jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has referred to Putin as “the world’s richest man,” according to the Guardian.