When the West imposed sanctions on Russia this week in response to the country's invasion of Ukraine, the financial punishments got closer to Vladimir Putin than ever before.
Russia President Vladimir Putin meets with permanent members of the Security Council on the Ukraine situation at Kremlin, Moscow, on Friday Feb 25, 2022. Photo: AFP or licensors
Among the fresh targets were the Russian Defence Minister and chief of staff, the children of two close advisers and several of his richest friends.
By Friday, the European Union appeared to be zeroing in on Putin, agreeing to freeze the assets of the Russian President and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, according to Latvia's foreign minister.
And in a move that may be more symbolic than financially painful, the White House confirmed that it would move to impose sanctions on the Russian President.
The asset freezes and travel bans are intended to have a psychological impact on Mr Putin and his allies.
"Russian elites and their family members are now on notice that additional actions could be taken on them as well," Daleep Singh, the White House national security adviser, said.
Even as the EU and US moved to freeze Mr Putin's assets, it was not clear how many he held within the bloc or how badly he would be hurt by such a move.
It is a conundrum that plagues global leaders as they seek to punish Russia's leader for his moves on Ukraine.
To freeze Vladimir Putin's assets, the West would first have to know what they are and then be able to find them.
Forbes Magazine, which puts together an annual list of the world's richest people, says Vladimir Putin's worth is impossible to pinpoint.
"Figuring out Putin's net worth is probably the most elusive riddle in wealth hunting - harder than the heirs, other heads of state and even drug lords that we've financially smoked out over the years," Forbes' wealth team wrote last month.
Photo: AFP / FILE
The richest man in the world or a humble apartment owner?
The Kremlin says that as Russia's president, Vladimir Putin is paid a salary of about $US117,000 (NZ$173,500) a year.
Official documents released annually suggest he recently sold a small plot of land but continues to own a 77-square metre apartment and a garage.
Inside the garage, the Kremlin claims, are two Soviet-era 1960s Volga cars and a Lada Vida - a popular four-wheel drive in Russia.
But critics have cast doubt on these claims.
I agree Boris. Now let’s hit Putin where it hurts: in his wallet. Let’s sanction his 50 oligarch trustees in the U.K. right now. No more dithering. Asset freezes, travel bans, the works. That’s what he cares about. https://t.co/GjaKNPAMOV
— Bill Browder (@Billbrowder) February 21, 2022
He could have up to $US200 billion hidden away, according to Bill Browder, a US financier who was once Russia's largest foreign investor before becoming one of Putin's most vocal critics.
"He is one of the richest men in the world. I estimate that he has accumulated $200 billion of ill-gotten gains," he told a US Senate Senate Judiciary Committee in 2017.
"He keeps his money in the West and all of his money in the West is potentially exposed to asset freezes and confiscation."
So if Putin's official personal worth is just a ruse, what does his real lifestyle look like?
The huge property on Russia's Black Sea coast was allegedly built for Vladimir Putin. Photo: (Wikimedia Commons: Russian Wikileaks )
Putin's palace, mega yachts and a gold toilet
Several luxury properties have been linked to the Russian leader, the most famous of which is nicknamed 'Putin's palace'.
On Russia's Black Sea coast lies a huge Italianate-style property that is estimated to have cost more than $US1 billion to build.
The sprawling estate features a greenhouse, a helipad, an ice palace, a church, an amphitheatre, a petrol station and a "wine cave" - a tunnel dug into a mountain that houses a room just for wine tasting.
The home itself is massive, measuring about 17,000 square metres.
It includes such flourishes as an indoor pool, a spa, multiple saunas and Turkish baths, a casino, a music lounge, a hookah bar, a theatre and movie cinema and about a dozen guestrooms.
A mysterious feature of the palace that has gripped the Internet's imagination is known only as the "aquatic disco".
Several businessmen have claimed to own the palace, and the Kremlin has refused to confirm who holds the deed.
But Russia's opposition leader Alexei Navalny insists it was built for the president's personal use.
"Without exaggeration, it's the most secretive and guarded facility in Russia. It isn't a country house or a residence, it is an entire kingdom," Navalny said in a documentary that has been watched by one in four Russians.
Boris Nemstov, a Putin critic who was assassinated in 2015, produced a dossier several years before his death in which he alleged the Russian president enjoys a wildly extravagant lifestyle.
Nemstov said his nemesis has 15 helicopters at his disposal, four yachts and a passenger jet that features a gold-plated toilet.
"His lifestyle can be compared to that of a Persian Gulf monarch or a flamboyant oligarch," Nemstov's report concluded.
The report also alleges that Putin is a passionate collector of expensive watches, with a collection said to be worth $US687,000.
He also reportedly dresses exclusively in tailor-made suits and Valentino ties.
Putin has always denied allegations that he lives a luxurious lifestyle.
Instead, he claims, he has "toiled like a galley slave from morning till night, unsparingly" during his presidency.
But if Putin is as wealthy as his critics claim, where is he stashing the money?
Vladimir Putin. Photo: afp
The 'oligarch trustees' who may manage Putin's funds
Bill Browder believes that Vladimir Putin has amassed enormous wealth by making a very simple, but effective deal with Russia's elite.
"The deal was, 'You give me 50 per cent of your wealth and I'll let you keep the other 50 per cent,'" Browder told Forbes.
"If you don't, he'll take 100 per cent of your wealth and throw you in jail."
He may have also adopted a mafia model in which family members, old friends and associates receive government contracts in exchange for kickbacks.
"Together with a few old friends from St Petersburg, the president is tapping the big state companies through overpriced no-bid procurement, transfer pricing, asset stripping and stock manipulation," Anders Aslund, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said in 2018.
"They are also making money by extorting old oligarchs and taking loans from state banks, not to be returned."
A massive leak of millions of documents called the Panama Papers in 2015 revealed how the rich and powerful had been exploiting secret offshore tax regimes to stash cash.
Vladimir Putin was not named in the Panama Papers.
But several of his closest friends were found to have hundreds of millions of dollars in offshore banking networks.
Among them was Putin's childhood best friend, cellist Sergei Roldugin, who was linked to several companies with cash flows of up to $2 billion.
Putin and his oldest friend vigorously denied any wrongdoing.
Roldugin said the money was simply donations to his charity so he could buy instruments for young Russian musicians.
"I'm pleased that this landed on me," he said at the time.
"There's nothing to catch me out on here. Everything is open. In any case, I am indeed rich - I am rich with the talent of Russia," he added.
Bill Browder says the most effective way to sanction Vladimir Putin is for the US, UK and EU all to target the 50 or so "oligarch trustees" who he believes manage and obscure the president's wealth.
Their assets could be frozen, and their loved ones who live abroad could have their residency permits rescinded.
"The sanctions outlined so far won't stop Putin," he said on Twitter.
"But this would."
- ABC
