Editing Vladimir Putin (section)

=== Wealth ===
{{See also|Panama Papers|Pandora papers}}
Official figures released during the [[2007 Russian legislative election|legislative election of 2007]] put Putin's wealth at approximately 3.7&nbsp;million [[Russian ruble|rubles]] (US$280,000) in bank accounts, a private {{convert|77.4|m2|adj=on|sqft|sp=us}} apartment in Saint Petersburg, and miscellaneous other assets.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://money.com/vladimir-putin-net-worth/ |title=Is Vladimir Putin Secretly the Richest Man in the World? |date=23 January 2017 |first1=Rob |last1=Wile |magazine=Money |access-date=5 May 2022}}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://www.quote.ru/fterm/emitent.shtml?49/1249 |title = Quote.Rbc.Ru :: Аюмй Яюмйр-Оерепаспц&nbsp;– Юйжхх, Ярпсйрспю, Мнбнярх, Тхмюмяш |publisher = Quote.ru |access-date = 2 March 2010 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071026102505/http://www.quote.ru/fterm/emitent.shtml?49%2F1249 |archive-date = 26 October 2007 }}</ref> Putin's reported 2006 income totaled 2&nbsp;million rubles (approximately $152,000). In 2012, Putin reported an income of 3.6&nbsp;million rubles ($270,000).<ref>[http://www.rg.ru/2007/10/27/vibori.html ЦИК зарегистрировал список "ЕР"] [[Rossiyskaya Gazeta]] N 4504 27 October 2007.</ref><ref>[http://www.vz.ru/politics/2007/10/26/120491.html ЦИК раскрыл доходы Путина] [[Vzglyad (newspaper)|Vzglyad]]. 26 October 2007.</ref> Putin has been photographed wearing a number of expensive wristwatches, collectively valued at $700,000, nearly six times his annual salary.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/06/putins-extravagant-700000-watch-collection/ |title = Putin's Extravagant $700,000 Watch Collection |date = 8 June 2012 |publisher = [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |access-date = 1 February 2019 |first = Kirit |last = Radia }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/how-vladimir-putin-spends-his-mysterious-fortune-rumoured-to-be-worth-70-billion-a7805026.html |date = 23 June 2017 |access-date = 1 February 2019 |title = How Vladimir Putin spends his mysterious fortune rumoured to be worth $70&nbsp;billion |work = [[The Independent]] |first = Mary |last = Hanbury }}</ref> Putin has been known on occasion to give watches valued at thousands of dollars as gifts, for example a watch identified as a [[Blancpain]] to a Siberian boy he met while on vacation in 2009, and another similar watch to a factory worker the same year.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/06/putins-extravagant-700000-watch-collection |title = Putin's Extravagant $700,000 Watch Collection |website = ABC News |date = 8 June 2012 }}</ref>

[[File:Opening of the Crimean bridge (2018-05-15) 01.jpg|thumb|Putin's close associate [[Arkady Rotenberg]] is mentioned in the [[Panama Papers]], pictured 2018.]]
According to Russian opposition politicians and journalists,<ref>[http://www.wps.ru/en/pp/story/2007/03/12.html Gennadi Timchenko: Russia's most low-profile billionaire] ''Sobesednik'' No. 10, 7 March 2007.</ref><ref name=Guardian_40bn>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/dec/21/russia.topstories3 |title = Putin, the Kremlin power struggle and the $40bn fortune |work =[[The Guardian]] |date = 21 December 2007 |last = Harding |first = Luke |access-date = 18 August 2008 |location = London }}</ref> Putin secretly possesses a multi-billion-dollar fortune via successive ownership of stakes in a number of Russian companies.<ref name=Is>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Is Vladimir Putin the richest man on earth? |url = http://www.news.com.au/money/money-matters/is-vladimir-putin-the-richest-man-on-earth/story-e6frfmd9-1226727457378 |newspaper = [[News.com.au]] |date = 26 September 2013 |access-date = 26 September 2013 |archive-date = 8 December 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131208183550/http://www.news.com.au/money/money-matters/is-vladimir-putin-the-richest-man-on-earth/story-e6frfmd9-1226727457378 |url-status = dead }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/what-is-russian-president-vladimir-putins-net-worth |title = What is Russian President Vladimir Putin's net worth? |last = Joyce |first = Kathleen |date = 29 June 2019 |website = Fox Business |access-date = 30 June 2019 }}</ref> According to one editorial in ''[[The Washington Post]]'', "Putin might not technically own these 43 aircraft, but, as the sole political power in Russia, he can act like they're his".<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|title = Is Vladimir Putin hiding a $200&nbsp;billion fortune? (And if so, does it matter?) |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/02/20/is-vladimir-putin-hiding-a-200-billion-fortune-and-if-so-does-it-matter/ |newspaper = The Washington Post |first = Adam |last = Tayor |access-date = 19 March 2017 }}</ref> An [[RIA Novosti]] journalist argued that "[Western] intelligence agencies ... could not find anything". These contradictory claims were analyzed by [[Polygraph.info]],<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.polygraph.info/a/putin-wealth-aslund-propaganda-fact-check/29940697.html |title = Are 'Putin's Billions' a Myth? |author = William Echols |date = 14 May 2019 |website = Polygraph.info |access-date = 16 May 2019 }}</ref> which looked at a number of reports by Western ([[Anders Åslund]] estimate of $100–160&nbsp;billion) and Russian ([[Stanislav Belkovsky]] estimated of $40&nbsp;billion) analysts, [[CIA]] (estimate of $40&nbsp;billion in 2007) as well as counterarguments of Russian media. Polygraph concluded:

{{blockquote|text=There is uncertainty on the precise sum of Putin's wealth, and the assessment by the Director of U.S. National Intelligence apparently is not yet complete. However, with the pile of evidence and documents in the Panama Papers and in the hands of independent investigators such as those cited by Dawisha, Polygraph.info finds that Danilov's claim that Western intelligence agencies have not been able to find evidence of Putin's wealth to be misleading|sign=Polygraph.info|source="Are 'Putin's Billions' a Myth?"|title=}}
In April 2016, 11&nbsp;million documents belonging to Panamanian law firm [[Mossack Fonseca]] were [[List of people named in the Panama Papers|leaked]] to the German newspaper ''[[Süddeutsche Zeitung]]'' and the [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]]-based [[Center for Public Integrity|International Consortium of Investigative Journalists]]. The name of Putin does not appear in any of the records, and Putin denied his involvement with the company.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|last1 = Luhn |first1 = Alec |last2 = Harding |first2 = Luke |author-link2 = Luke Harding |date = 7 April 2016 |title = Putin dismisses Panama Papers as an attempt to destabilise Russia |url = http://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/07/putin-dismisses-panama-papers-as-an-attempt-to-destabilise-russia |access-date = 18 September 2022 |website = [[The Guardian]] }}</ref> However, various media have reported on three of Putin's associates on the list.<ref name="hardingrevealed">{{cite news|last=Harding|first=Luke|title = Revealed: the $2bn offshore trail that leads to Vladimir Putin |url = https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/03/panama-papers-money-hidden-offshore |newspaper = [[The Guardian]] |location = London |date = 3 April 2016}}</ref> According to the [[Panama Papers]] leak, close trusted associates of Putin own offshore companies worth US$2&nbsp;billion in total.<ref>[http://panamapapers.sueddeutsche.de/articles/56fe71aaa1bb8d3c3495ac71/ Der Zirkel der Macht von Vladimir Putin], Süddeutsche Zeitung</ref> The German newspaper ''[[Süddeutsche Zeitung]]'' regards the possibility of Putin's family profiting from this money as plausible.<ref>[http://panamapapers.sueddeutsche.de/articles/56eff9f22f17ab0f205e636a/ Wladimir Putin und seine Freunde], Süddeutsche Zeitung</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/03/panama-papers-money-hidden-offshore Revealed: the $2bn offshore trail that leads to Vladimir Putin], ''The Guardian''</ref>

According to the paper, the US$2&nbsp;billion had been "secretly shuffled through banks and shadow companies linked to Putin's associates", such as construction billionaires [[Arkady Rotenberg|Arkady]] and [[Boris Romanovich Rotenberg|Boris Rotenberg]], and [[Rossiya Bank|Bank Rossiya]], previously identified by the U.S. State Department as being treated by Putin as his personal bank account, had been central in facilitating this. It concludes that "Putin has shown he is willing to take aggressive steps to maintain secrecy and protect [such] communal assets".<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160403-putin-russia-offshore-network.html |title = All Putin's Men: Secret Records Reveal Money Network Tied to Russian Leader |website = panamapapers.icij.org |date = 3 April 2016 |access-date = 4 April 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|url = https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35918845 |title = Panama Papers: Putin associates linked to 'money laundering' |work =[[BBC News]] |access-date = 4 April 2016 }}</ref>

A significant proportion of the money trail leads to Putin's best friend [[Sergei Roldugin]]. Although a musician, and in his own words, not a businessman, it appears he has accumulated assets valued at $100m, and possibly more. It has been suggested he was picked for the role because of his low profile.<ref name="hardingrevealed" /> There have been speculations that Putin, in fact, owns the funds,<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = https://www.vox.com/2016/4/4/11360212/panama-papers-russia-putin |title = The Panama Papers show how corruption really works in Russia |last = Galeotti |first = Mark |date = 4 April 2016 |publisher = Vox Business and Finance |access-date = 8 April 2016 }}</ref> and Roldugin just acted as a proxy.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Harding |first = Luke |date = 3 April 2016 |title = Sergei Roldugin, the cellist who holds the key to tracing Putin's hidden fortune |language = en-GB |work =[[The Guardian]] |url = https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/03/sergei-roldugin-the-cellist-who-holds-the-key-to-tracing-putins-hidden-fortune |access-date = 16 October 2020 |issn = 0261-3077 }}</ref> [[Garry Kasparov]] said that "[Putin] controls enough money, probably more than any other individual in the history of human race".<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|last = Kasparov |first = Garry |title = Starr Forum: The Trump-Putin Phenomenon |url = https://cis.mit.edu/events/transcripts/starr-forum-trump-putin-phenomenon |website = MIT Center for International Studies |access-date = 8 March 2021 }}</ref>