Oleg Tinkov has put security in place because of fears he may be attacked after speaking out about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The former World Tour cycling team owner has also revealed he was forced to sell his assets as retaliation for speaking out, saying he got about three per cent of what he believed their value was.
Tinkov has been an outspoken critic of the war, saying it made no sense and also that the majority of people in his native Russia were not in favour of the war, which he said was "crazy". He has also been targeted in sanctions imposed by Britain on oligarchs said to be close to Putin and his regime.
The value of Tinkov Bank, which he founded, crashed from $23 billion to less than $1 billion immediately the invasion began and sanctions were imposed on Russia. Tinkov has now said he was forced to sell his 35 per cent stake in the bank last week to a billionaire friend of Putin's, with the price dictated to him and no negotiation allowed.
Advertisement
"I couldn’t discuss the price. It was like a hostage — you take what you are offered. I couldn’t negotiate," he told the New York Times, declining to specify his location while being interviewed, due to safety concerns.
“They made me sell it because of my pronouncements. I sold it for 'kopecks',” he added in a reference to being forced to sell his 35 per cent stake in the bank as punishment for speaking out against the war and for what loosely translates as 'pennies'.
Related News
He also claimed he had hired bodyguards based on what his contacts from the Russian security services had told him. Tinkov added while he has survived leukemia maybe "the Kremlin will kill me".
"They told me: ‘The decision regarding you has been made'," Tinkov said of what his security services contacts told him. "Whether that means that on top of everything they’re going to kill me, I don’t know. I don’t rule it out.
“I’ve realised that Russia, as a country, no longer exists,” he added, also saying he did not think Putin would remain in charge in the long-term. “I believed that the Putin regime was bad. But of course, I had no idea that it would take on such a catastrophic scale."
The bank he founded has announced it has decided to change its name, though it appears that process was already underway. It is a development Tinkov did not seem upset by as he did not want his name associated with Russia.
“I don’t believe in Russia’s future,” he told The New York Times. “Most importantly, I am not prepared to associate my brand and my name with a country that attacks its neighbors without any reason at all.”
