10 Former KGB Officers Who Are Now Filthy Rich

Prev2 of 11Next

10. Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin’s reported wealth only amounts to around $150,000 in savings and an income of about $80,000 per year, but a number of former Russian government officials have asserted that this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Former Chairman of the Russian State Duma Ivan Rybkin and political scientist Stanislav Belkovsky have both claimed that the Russian Prime Minister secretly controls hefty stakes in gas and oil companies such as Gazprom and Gunvor — to the value of over $50 billion, according to Belkovsky, which would make him Europe’s richest man. In 2010, a former business associate of Putin named Sergei Kolesnikov claimed in a letter to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that Putin was involved in a scheme to siphon off donations to a health infrastructure project into his own personal funds. If either is true, clearly the former intelligence man has done well for himself in the world — albeit in the sneakiest of ways.

In 2010, a former business associate of Putin named Sergei Kolesnikov claimed in a letter to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that Putin was involved in a scheme to siphon off donations to a health infrastructure project into his own personal funds. If either is true, clearly the former intelligence man has done well for himself in the world — albeit in the sneakiest of ways.

If either is true, clearly the former intelligence man has done well for himself in the world — albeit in the sneakiest of ways.

Prev2 of 11Next

10. Vladimir Putin