The Instagram post by Oleg Tinkov, the representative of Russia criticising the invasion of Ukraine did not only created a political backlash, but also wiped approximately 9 billion dollars of his paper wealth in several days, as he needed to sell his stake in the bank that he founded at a prohibitively high price, and he was in exile. The episode has since been a bright example of how dissent, capital and state power bump against each other in the Russia of Vladimir Putin.
Key takeaways
In April 2022, Oleg Tinkov posted on Instagram once with the tag of the Ukraine war being insane and ripping up Russia’s army, which the Kremlin immediately responded negatively to.
- Kremlin officials gave him a choice to sell his 35-per-cent stake in TCS Group (Tinkoff Bank parent) and renounce his name or be nationalised.
- Forced to sell to a Vladimir Potanin-related company at only 3 per cent of actual value, wiped off nearly 9B of his fortune.
- The net worth was about 8.2 billion before the crisis; after the sale, he fell off the billionaire list in Russia.
- Consumer goods/beer to the leading digital bank in Russia in 2006-07.
- Fled Russia after selling, and denounced its citizenship due to war and authoritarianism.
- The post on Instagram, which cost 9 billion dollars.
In April 2022, as Russian forces continued their invasion of Ukraine, Oleg Tinkov posted on Instagram that the war was insane and the Russian army was unprepared and corrupt. He further argued that most Russians were not in support of the invasion. He openly called the people who supported it morons, a taboo against the billionaire silence in Russia.
The sale of Tinkoff Bank against its will
Tinkov owned an estimated 35 per cent of TCS Group, which is the mother of Tinkoff Bank, one of the largest internet-based banks in Russia. With the tens of billions of dollars worth of that stake, as recently as 2021, that made him one of the richest businessmen in Russia.
After the Kremlin issued the ultimatum, Tinkov claims that he was not given a chance to negotiate conditions; he claims that he is more of a hostage because he was to take whatever price was bid, or it was all over with nationalisation. His 35 per cent was sold within days to a company associated with metals tycoon Vladimir Potanin, who is generally considered the richest man in Russia, majority-owner of strategic industries like nickel and mining.
Tinkov said the deal valued his holding at approximately 3 per cent of what he considered to be its true market value, wiping away almost 9 billion dollars of his net worth in a single swab. Although no one ever publicly disclosed deal terms in their entirety, independent estimates and surveys by himself in subsequent interviews generally back up the size of the loss he says he has incurred.
Leap of riches gone: figures behind the crash
Financial rich lists had indicated that Tinkov was worth approximately 8.2 billion dollars in late 2021, before the war, the market value of his holdings in TCS Group and other assets. Even before his Instagram post, sanctions, a falling rouble and crashing Russian financial stocks had already dropped this number significantly at the beginning of 2022.
His wealth was being destroyed with the forced sale. According to his own explanation, selling at about 3 per cent of perceived fair value wiped out the equivalent of nearly 9 billion dollars of paper wealth of decades of entrepreneurship. His remaining fortune, estimated by some to be well under a billion dollars, post-sale, had made an orthodox Russian billionaire a marginal figure in under a year.
Who is Oleg Tinkov?
Soviet trader, banking robber baron, Oleg Tinkov was a native of the former Soviet Union who earned his early income in the trading of consumer goods during the turbulent times in the 1990s. This was followed by a chain of rising companies, a frozen food business known as Daria and a beer and restaurant brand named Tinkoff, which he sold in 2005 to a multinational brewing company.
In 2006-07, he invested the proceeds in the creation of Tinkoff, an online-only lender that became one of the largest retail banks in Russia, characterised by aggressive mark
eting, remote credit cards and digitally based operations. By the mid-2010s, the bank was one of the most successful in Russia in terms of assets and had millions of clients, making Tinkov a poster boy of Russian fintech.
A public, polarising figure
In contrast to most of his colleagues, Tinkov developed a flamboyant personal brand, featuring in reality shows, writing books, and communicating with customers directly on social media. This glimpse, along with his theatrical manner, made envy as well as admired among people who were conscious of conspicuous richness.
He already drew the attention of Western regulators: in 2020, he settled with the US authorities on tax matters, and he was then listed on a number of lists of sanctions lists in connection with the Ukrainian war. However, until 2022, relations with the Russian state seemed to be fine, as Tinkoff Bank could be considered a success story in the financial system of the country.
Exile, citizenship and erasure
Following the forced sale, Tinkov moved out of Russia and later disavowed his Russian citizenship, specifically citing the Ukrainian war and what he termed Putin fascism as the reasons. He has since resided internationally, where he conducts interviews in which he disparages the Kremlin and how his experience is a good example of how fortunes can be easily reversed when oligarchs overstep their political boundaries.
As he claims, there were also attempts to forget his name and connection with the organisation that he created: the bank was once renamed, and his name, image, and story slowly disappeared in the official narrative of the bank. The overall effect of a forced sale, mass excommunication and renaming of the company was that what had been a famed founder was suddenly pushed to the fringes of official history.
What the story of Tinkov tells us about the Russian power and capital.
The defeat of Tinkov is not just a story of individual misfortune, but it is a kind of glimpse into how individual wealth correlates with governmental authority in modern Russia. His account implies that key individual assets are still dependent on political allegiance and that even globally acclaimed enterprises can shift ownership at a pinch when those owners have lost favour.
Frequently Asked Questions
He described Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as “insane”, criticised the army as corrupt and ill‑prepared, and said that most Russians did not support the war, calling its supporters “morons”.
Tinkov controlled about 35 per cent of TCS Group, the holding company that owned 100 per cent of Tinkoff Bank, making him the single largest individual shareholder.
His stake had previously been valued in the tens of billions; by his account, being forced to sell at roughly 3 per cent of perceived fair value erased close to 9 billion dollars of that paper wealth.
Public estimates after the sale and the broader market collapse suggest his net worth fell to well under 1 billion dollars, though the exact figure fluctuates with remaining assets and is not precisely disclosed.
A company linked to Vladimir Potanin, widely regarded as Russia’s richest man and a major player in mining and metals, acquired Tinkov’s roughly 35 per cent stake in April 2022.
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