Vladimir Putin’s government has launched an aggressive campaign to nationalize the assets of Konstantin Strukov, one of Russia’s richest men and the owner of the country’s largest gold mining company. The move marks a sharp escalation in the Kremlin’s efforts to extract wealth from within its own elite as the financial toll of the war in Ukraine deepens.
Strukov, whose fortune is estimated at over $3.5 billion, is the founder of Yuzhuralzoloto—a gold empire built over decades with strong ties to the Kremlin. But on July 5, his private jet was grounded by Russian authorities as it prepared to leave for Turkey. His passport was reportedly seized, and the aircraft barred from departing.
Billionaires siding with dictators thinking they’ll be protected?
I genuinely cannot wait until Thiel gets his comeuppance, one way or the other.
It’s funny to me that they think they’ll be special, every single time. “They won’t throw me out the window for my fortune!”
Well, in the case of Nazi Germany it worked spectacularly well. Many of Germanys most rich people are inheritors to industrial fortunes that got unimaginably rich with selling weapons to the Nazi army and using forced labor from the concentration camps. The families Quandt/Klatten (BMW) and Porsche/Piech (Porsche,VW, Audi…) come to mind directly. The Krupps are also still in the game although they have gambled a lot of money away over the past decades
Never ask Mr. Kühne where his family’s fortune came from, or what their most popular cargo was in the 40s.
It is worth mentioning that in the case of krupps they made a lot of money selling arms in WWI and they purchased newspapers to sell the war to increase profits.
Own all the newspapers… Propaganda… Seems familiar.
They made a good coffee grinder though. We’re still running our’s from the early 90s.
Hitler didn’t stay in power long enough to take everything though. (my bad, it was longer than I thought). Also, they probably toed the line and didn’t piss him off so they could make lots of money. They weren’t special either.Leopards Throwing Out Of Windows Party
defenestration
Window Inspectors Against Workplace Safety party
Nah. They all play this game; they all know the risk. It’s all about gaining leverage and the correct alignment at the right time.
He probably knows it’s happening and sacrifices himself for his family and assets.
Some folks became billionaires in Russia simply because they were friends of Putin though.
These may truly be protected class. Everyone else though - out the window as soon as they outlive their usefulness.
russian oligarchs are only useful as a personal piggy bank for putin, he distributes the wealth around and then siezes it back down the line.
Usually they are. Dictators typically gain and keep power by appeasing the wealthy and powerful.
Not keep power, just to get it. Then they dump them once they’ve got it. See Giuliani, Musk, My Pillow guy, Herman Cain, etc.
I mean… No - to keep it. “No man rules alone.” They need key supporters. However simply “being rich” is not enough.