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The Russian billionaire Oleg Tinkov has often caused a stir because of his flamboyant appearance.
It is perhaps not surprising when you know that the former major sponsor behind Bjarne Riis’ cycling team is the owner of the world’s first icebreaker yacht and has the British rich man Richard Branson as a declared idol.
And Tinkov has also recently made headlines around the world for an Instagram post that, for Russian billionaires, is a rarity in these times.
“I do not see a single advantage in this insane war. Innocent people and soldiers are being killed. When the generals woke up with a hangover, they realized that they had a shit Army. And how can the army also be good if everything else in the country is shit and rooted in nepotism, spittle-licking and subservience?”initiates Oleg Tinkov, who also writes:
“Of course, there are idiots who draw Z (symbol of support for Russia’s war, red.), but ten percent of any country are idiots. 90 percent of Russians are against this war!«
Larger-than-life
Billionaire Oleg Tinkov is behind the digital Tinkoff Bank, one of Russia’s largest non-state-controlled banks. And he, according to himself, is by no means an oligarch.
54 – year – old Siberian-born Tinkov-the son of a coal miner and a seamstress-has created all his business from scratch without the help of the Kremlin, he argues.
But-as The Financial Times skriver-Tinkov himself in 2015 repeatedly mentioned his “close” relationship with the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin. He said he had never visited the Kremlin.
Saxo Bank co-founder Lars Seier Christensen knows Oleg Tinkov from their time as sponsors together in Bjarne Riis ‘ Cycling Team, Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, which Oleg Tinkov bought in 2013, when the team changed its name to Tinkoff-Saxo.
The relationship as co-sponsors is over, but Lars Seier writes in an e-mail to Berlingske that he is still “on a rare occasion” in contact with Tinkov, with whom he “apparently” had a very good relationship at the time. That, although there were” some complications ” around the cycling team.
2012: Sponsor Tinkov poses with Double Tour de France winner Alberto Contador. Tinkov bought the cycling team from Bjarne Riis in 2013, who left the team in 2015 after long-time controversy between the two.
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Lars Seier is not surprised by Tinkov’s Russia-critical Instagram posts.
“He has always expressed to me negatively about oligarchs who have taken advantage of political connections and have not built their business from scratch, as he himself has. I have never had the impression that he has any connection to the Kremlin,” writes Lars Seier.
Lars Seier describes Oleg Tinkov as a bramfree and lively man with strong attitudes who “loves media” and is good at using them.
“It gave him a larger-than-life-status (colossal, red.) in Russia, “writes Lars Seier, who emphasizes that Tinkov on his own is” completely different ” and down to Earth.
Affected by sanctions
It’s hard to come to terms with how close Tinkov’s relationship with Putin is, beyond the fact that he himself highlighted it back in 2015.
Either way, the UK has now placed Tinkov on its sanctions list, frozen his assets and banned him from trading or staying in the UK.
Tinkoff Bank, which Oleg Tinkov now owns only 35 percent of, on the other hand, has gone free from Western sanctions and is also not excluded from the SWIFT international banking system.
But he himself says that according to The Financial Timesall in all, the sanctions have meant a farewell to his status as a dollar billionaire. Forbes also writes that Tinkov’s estimated value since the start of the war fell from over five billion dollars to approximately 800 million dollars.
Lars Seier Christensen does not believe that Oleg Tinkov should be sanctioned for Russia’s war:
“Basically, I think he is one of the mostly innocent victims of this conflict.«
Oleg Tinkov’s icebreaker-yacht, ” La Datcha “(loosely translated from Russian as”cottage”). It is 77 meters long, has a bronze encircled exterior, six decks, helicopter landing pad, a small submarine and two snowmobiles. And much more. Docked here in Baja California, Mexico. Despite sanctions, he still owns the yacht.
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“I could be wrong, sorry.”
Tinkov’s sensational Instagram post was posted on Tuesday.
But late Thursday night Danish time, he himself added an appendix in the commentary track.
“This was my call to stop people from dying, I may be wrong, sorry,” writes Tinkov.
When asked if he has any idea why Tinkov writes It, Lars Seier replies:
“I don’t know.«
Oleg Tinkov was diagnosed with leukemia in 2020 – shortly after concluding a $ 509 million settlement in a tax evasion case in the United States.
After that, he sold part of his shares in Tinkoff Bank and quit as chairman of the board.
According Forbes during the course of his illness, Oleg Tinkov said that he has seen how fragile life is:
“Innocent people are dying in Ukraine every day, it is unthinkable and unacceptable! States should spend money on treating people, on research to defeat cancer and not on war,” he has written.
