What Is Vladimir Putin’s Net Worth In 2022?

Vladimir Putin is one of the most infamous figures of the 21st century and has been listed by Forbes as the world’s most powerful person more often than any other figure.

While former US President Trump is happy to declare ‘I’m really rich’, Putin is intent on obscuring the true scope of his wealth. 

Putin’s exact net worth is unknown, but it is undoubtedly significant. Financier Bill Browder testified to the US Senate Judiciary Committee in 2017 that Putin has a net worth of $200 billion (£159 billion). This would make him the wealthiest man on Earth. 

Browder, the CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, locates the primary source of Putin’s wealth to his targeting of Russian oligarchs. In 2003 Putin ordered the arrest of oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russia’s wealthiest man at the time who controlled 17% of the country’s oil production. The Russian President then outlined what he expected of the remaining oligarchs if they were to avoid a similar fate to Khodorkovsky, Browder testified that Putin wanted ‘50%, he wasn't saying 50% for the Russian government or the presidential administration of Russia, but 50% for Vladimir Putin personally’. 

Hermitage Capital Management is an ‘activist fund’ that often exposes the corruption of certain companies with the intention of improving managerial behaviour and, in turn, improving the share price. Browder has been persecuted by the Russian state on a number of occasions due to Hermitage’s targeting of large Russian companies such as Gazprom, Unified Energy Systems of Russia, and Sidanko.