It is “the most comprehensive public database of oligarchic assets to date,” according to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
And the which teamed up with 27 media outlets to launch it
tracker. The tool is interactive and displays the “enormous wealth held outside of Russia’s oligarchy and key personalities close to” the Russian president.
The investigative project revealed more than 150 assets with a combined value of $17 billion, including property, private jets, company inventory, yachts, mansions and more. Journalists discovered these assets by combing through land records, corporate records, and outside leaks.
“Russia under Vladimir Putin has been controlled by a very small group of people, the enablers who keep him in power while he benefits from a patronage system at the expense of the Russian people,” OCCRP publisher Drew Sullivan said in a press release.
That system has come under new scrutiny since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, as Western governments have sought to freeze the assets of Putin and his oligarchs abroad – and ban them from travel. The goal is twofold: sanctions are punishment for Russia’s ruling class and a cudgel for trying to force Putin to back down.
The idea was conceived in February before the Russian invasion of Ukraine,
According to the Guardian newspaper, which is part of the project. The project began with “a list of 35 individuals named last year by imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny as ‘key enablers and beneficiaries of the Kremlin’s kleptocracy’.”
Just three weeks after the invasion, the Guardian wrote, “27 of these individuals are under sanctions in the United States and Europe. Another seven are blacklisted in Canada.”
One of the people on that 35-person list is
Roman AbramovichThe 55-year-old has an estimated net worth of $13.5 billion. Although the UK has not sanctioned him and denied his links with Putin, Abramovich recently announced that he is selling Chelsea Football Club, which he acquired in 2003. The OCCRP database shows that he has at least $7 billion in assets, including beachfront Luxury properties on the French Riviera, a private jet from Bombardier and many more properties scattered all over London.
Others included in the database are
Businessman Alisher UsmanovAnd the
Igor Sechin (CEO of Russian oil giant Rosneft) and Oleg Deripaska, A
The billionaire who made his fortune in the aluminum industry.
OCCRP has issued other disclosures in the past, including a debit report on Credit Suisse which
Detailed clients which included criminals, alleged perpetrators of human rights violations, and parties facing sanctions. The Swiss bank rejected their report.
