Oleg Tinkov, this Russian oligarch who challenges Putin

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Since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian oligarchs have remained discreet or displayed their solidarity with the Kremlin. However, a voice has been raised, that of Oleg Tinkov, founder of the online bank Tinkoff, to denounce crazy war ».

Who is this oligarch who is not afraid to criticize the Kremlin, and whose fortune was estimated in 2021 by Forbes nearly $5 billion?

A mad war

Tall blond with blue eyes, Oleg Tinkov is not used to mince words. On April 19, on his Instagram account, he denounces a “ army of shit “, speaking of the Russian army, a consequence, according to him, of nepotism and servility, before calling on the West to help put an end to this “ massacre “. Targeted himself by British sanctions, Tinkov is one of the few, besides Mikhail Fridman or Oleg Deripaska, to launch a formal attack against Vladimir Putin while a few years ago, he harbored feelings towards him ambivalent.

After Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, to Bloomberg reporter Ryan Chilcote, Tinkov said: I love what Barack Obama and his administration are doing in terms of the country’s internal affairs: the GDP is growing, credits are being made easier. But his foreign policy is a disaster. With us, it’s the opposite. When it comes to foreign policy, Putin is really strong. But his domestic policy is disastrous. We should exchange them and that would be great ! »

Beer with Poutine

Three years later, in 2017, in front of Jurij Doud, presenter of a talk show on YouTube, Tinkov calls Alexei Navalny, Putin’s number one opponent, ” populist “. And when the Russian journalist insists on a supposed pact between the Russian president and the oligarchs, the billionaire gets annoyed: “ All of that is bullshit. I didn’t have a pact with anyone. I have never set foot in the Kremlin. I saw Putin once in my life. He went to one of my restaurants in Saint Petersburg. We had a beer together. It goes back to 2000, when he was elected president. We haven’t seen each other since. »

Lukas Aubin, associate researcher at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (Iris), specialist in the geopolitics of Russia and sport, author of the book The Sportokratura under Vladimir Putin, a geopolitics of Russian sport, nuance : « There is no oligarch who will tell you that he is bound by a pact with Putin. Just stick to the facts. And there are very few who opposed the Russian regime head-on. Which clearly shows how difficult it is to do so. In reality, Oleg Tinkov, through his many trips, through his investments abroad and in Russia, is a bit between two worlds. He is influenced by both American politics and Russian politics. »

Blows, wounds

Opportunist or visionary, the future billionaire learned very early to fight. It was in the Kuzbass, a mining basin in West Siberia, that Tinkov was born 54 years ago. It is a harsh region where his paternal family had settled, descended from small landowners, persecuted after the Bolshevik revolution of 1917. His father is a miner, his mother a seamstress. It is from her that Oleg got the taste for entrepreneurship. After two years in the army, he returned to the mine. In a pioneer camp, during a summer job, he meets his first love. This period of his life is marked by a tragedy: his fiancée at the time dies beheaded in a bus accident. The metal bar that kills the girl leaves Oleg badly injured. He has since had a scar on his chin. Cycling becomes his passion. It’s the Soviet era, the time of deprivation. Resourceful, Oleg barters at the bazaar in his hometown.

After three years of university, he dropped studies in favor of business. It will be small electrical appliances sold in neighboring Poland, a flourishing business that he develops with the one who will become his wife years later, Rina Bosman, of Estonian origin. From electronics store chain to breweries, record production and frozen food, his empire is growing. Tinkov is a “ touch all some compare him to Richard Branson, the British entrepreneur and founder of the Virgin Group.

Like him, Tinkov thinks big. And to move up a gear, he trained in marketing at the University of Berkeley in California before returning to Russia. It was there that in 2006 he founded his online bank, Tinkoff Bank, one of the most popular in the country. What is the secret of this whimsical entrepreneur? Hit hard and where no one expects it.

A rebel sponsor

Including for what it is sport. In love with the little queen, Tinkov has not forgotten his years of cycling. Having become a sponsor of the Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank team, he landed in the Tour de France. Bernard Duboux, former journalist for Radio Suisse Romande, still remembers: “ It clashed with what we had known before. With the exception, perhaps, of Bernard Tapie in the 1980s. Tinkov was a nouveau riche. He presented himself as a healer of cycling and all its ailments. He was completely eccentric, extravagant. He had secured the services of a few stars of the moment, Contador, Sagan and others. I called him the Rasputin of the bicycle, because he wanted to influence everyone. He was, of course, a marginal, but a high-end marginal. »

From the outset, the ” Bike Rasputin » threatens to boycott the Tour de France to demand a better redistribution of the profits generated by the race. Gilles Simon, former head of the newspaper’s cycling section L’Equipe, Explain : « The teams do not receive any money from the organizers. Everywhere else, athletes, football clubs, tennis players, etc., receive money directly from the organizers. But it doesn’t happen that way on the bike. There are quite a few bonuses that are given based on the results. But there is no redistribution of income. That’s what Tinkov wanted to achieve. His argument did not directly concern athletes. He claimed money for team bosses. He had taken the lead in a sort of revolt. He threatened to quit the Tour de France. He was not followed up and dropped his claims. And Bernard Duboux concludes: “ He didn’t stay there long. These kind of people usually promise a lot but don’t keep it. »

Under the protection of bodyguards

The billionaire’s troubles with the American tax authorities earned him a fine of 500 million dollars for tax evasion. Suffering from leukemia, he left his position as CEO of Tinkoff Bank. While his shares are bought by another Russian oligarch, Vladimir Potanin, close to power, Oleg Tinkov leaves to seek treatment in London. According to the latest news, the man lives in Tuscany, protected by the Italian secret services. A punishment, he assures, for having criticized the Kremlin.

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