Putin, the Kremlin power struggle and the $40bn fortune

Putin, the Kremlin power struggle and the $40bn fortune Russia Guardian Unlimited: “Citing sources inside the president’s administration, Belkovsky claims that after eight years in power Putin has secretly accumulated more than $40bn (£20bn). The sum would make him Russia’s - and Europe’s - richest man.
In an interview with the Guardian, Belkovsky repeated his claims that Putin owns vast holdings in three Russian oil and gas companies, concealed behind a ‘non-transparent network of offshore trusts’.
Putin ‘effectively’ controls 37% of the shares of Surgutneftegaz, an oil exploration company and Russia’s third biggest oil producer, worth $20bn, he says. He also owns 4.5% of Gazprom, and ‘at least 75%’ of Gunvor, a mysterious Swiss-based oil trader, founded by Gennady Timchenko, a friend of the president’s, Belkovsky alleges.
Asked how much Putin was worth, Belkovsky said: ‘At least $40bn. Maximum we cannot know. I suspect there are some businesses I know nothing about.’ He added: ‘It may be more. It may be much more.”

Perhaps Putin is just saving to buy back Alaska.