NYT: Russian billionaire Oleg Tinkov says Kremlin forced him to sell his stake in TCS Group after anti-war statement

Russian billionaire Oleg Tinkov said in an interview with The New York Times that he was forced to sell his stake in TCS Group, which includes one of Russia’s biggest banks Tinkoff Bank, due to pressure from the Kremlin.

According to Tinkov, the day after he published an anti-war message on social media, the Russian presidential administration threatened to nationalise Tinkoff Bank if the billionaire does not cut ties with it. The Kremlin also stressed that the bank must change its name.

On April 28, Russia’s Interros Holding, owned by Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin, said that it had acquired 35% of shares in TCS Group Holding from Tinkov. In an interview with NYT, Tinkov described the deal as a “desperate sale, a fire sale” forced by the Kremlin.

“I couldn’t discuss the price. It was like a hostage — you take what you are offered. I couldn’t negotiate,” Tinkov told NYT. The billionaire did not disclose the price of the sale, claiming that he sold his stake at 3% of the true value. “They made me sell it because of my pronouncements,” he stated. “I sold it for kopecks.”

The businessman added that he had hired bodyguards after his contacts in Russian special services told him that he should fear for his life. Tinkov quipped that perhaps the Kremlin will kill him instead of leukemia, which he managed to survive.

Tinkov told the paper that many of his contacts in business and government elites told him privately that they agreed with him, “but they are all afraid.”

“I’ve realized that Russia, as a country, no longer exists. I believed that the Putin regime was bad. But of course, I had no idea that it would take on such catastrophic scale,” NYT quotes Tinkov. The Kremlin did not respond to the newspaper’s request for comment.

On April 22, representatives of Tinkoff Bank stated on Telegram that it would be rebranded in 2022. Shortly before that, Tinkov published a message on Instagram, in which he condemned the war in Ukraine. “I don’t see a single beneficiary of this crazy war! Innocent people and soldiers are dying,” the businessman said.