Russian Oligarchs Stay Loyal as New Billionaires Rise (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: War is bad for business, right? Well that's how it seems after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Because of the war, western sanctions and a weaker national currency, Russia's billionaires lost more than a quarter of their wealth. They lost their megayachts, private jets and villas dotted around the world. And people in Ukraine, and some in the West, hoped that they would turn on Vladimir Putin, because he started the war and made them poorer. They didn't. Why? Well, some genuinely support the war, some have benefitted hugely from enormous military contracts, and others have benefitted from western businesses withdrawing from Russia. As a result, 57 new billionaires appeared in Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion four years ago, and right now their number is highest ever, 140. And also, Vladimir Putin knows how to make billionaires toe the line. Because speaking out and opposing him comes at a hefty price, as some of Russia's mega-rich have found out. For example, Mikhail Tverkovsky, a former oil tycoon, spent 10 years in jail after setting up a pro-democracy group. More recently, another billionaire, Oleg Tinkov, lost almost 9 billion dollars and had to leave Russia after criticising the war against Ukraine in an Instagram post. So, what does this all mean? Bad news for Ukraine and its allies in the West, and good news for Vladimir Putin, whose power at home remains unchallenged.