Why Putin’s oligarchs are under fire amid Russia-Ukraine war

Here's why Vladimir Putin's oligarchs are under fire after Russia invaded Ukraine. Moscow's invasion of Ukraine has brought these oligarchs in the spotlight after the US sanctioned them to make Putin weak in the knees.

“We [Russians] do not have oligarchs anymore. Oligarchs are those who use their proximity to the authorities to receive super-profits. We have large companies, private ones or with government participation. But I do not know of any large companies that get preferential treatment from being close to the authorities.”

This was Russia’s President Vladimir Putin saying in an interview in mid-2019 while rebutting the charge that Russia was dominated by oligarchs.

Not too many people following Russian politics believed Putin’s claim. They say that though the Kremlin [literally meaning a fortress, it is Russian government building complex] officially reports Putin's annual income at $1,31,900, the Russian president earns much more. They say that Putin benefits in many billions in cash and overseas assets held by trusted friends and relatives the oligarchs.

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A 2017 study by the US-based National Economic Bureau (NEB) supports this claim. The study estimated that the Russian oligarchs held about $800 billion in countries such as the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Cyprus and similar offshore banking centres.

These ultra-rich few hundred Russians roughly have wealth equal to that of the rest of the 15 crore Russian population.

The forgotten dictionary meaning of the word, oligarch, refers to a ruler in an oligarchy, which is a form of government run by a group of equals. No country is technically an oligarchy in the world today. But oligarchs commonly mean influential Russians with super-fat chests and political power in the country. They are believed to be the power that runs Vladimir Putin’s government.