This is the skilled financial worker of Vladimir Putin

Sergei Pavlovich Roldugin was born on September 28, 1951 in the Far East of Russia. Exactly in Sakhalin Oblast. A province is a level of government that can be compared to a province in our country.

Friendship in Leningrad

In his mid-twenties, he became friends with the current Russian President Vladimir Putin. At that time, he was training to become a KGB agent, as the KGB is called.

Roldugin’s brother Yevgeny follows the same education in Leningrad, present-day Saint Petersburg. Through him, Roldugin and Putin became friends. Roaming the streets together and sometimes fistfighting, The Guardian writes in 2016†

Godfather of Putin’s daughter

“He was like my brother,” Roldugin later recalled. And the feeling was mutual, because in 1985 Roldugin was chosen as the godfather of Putin’s eldest daughter Maria. A logical choice, because Roldugin introduces Putin to his first wife, Lyudmila.

As Putin makes his way as a secret agent and then climbs into Russian politics, his best friend is in the art business. In 1980 the cellist won third place at the Prague Spring International Music Festival, In 1984 soloist With the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra in Saint Petersburg. This will later be led by another friend of Putin, conductor Valery Gergiev.

The two may go down different career paths, but the friendship remains. And it’s this camaraderie that makes Roldugin a place on the European sanctions list† Roldugin also stands on the sanctions list The United Kingdom, which followed in the footsteps of the European Union.

Scrolling Billions

According to the European Commission, Roldugin is part of Putin’s network to hide his assets. He was even called the “skillful financial worker” of the Russian president.

Putin’s fortune is a mystery

The wildest stories about Putin’s fortune have been circulating for years. In 2018, the Kremlin released a glimpse of his income: between 2011 and 2016, the Russian president earned an average of about $112,000 a year, or just over €101,000.

He also owns an 800-square-meter apartment in Saint Petersburg, bank balances of 241,000 dollars and two Soviet-era sports cars.

A pittance compared to the $200 billion other sources claim he owns. For example, Putin is regularly seen with hours that cost more than he receives in a year’s salary. And then there is his country house on the Black Sea. According to Alexei Navalny, his biggest critic, this colossal $1.35 billion mansion was built specifically for Putin.

According to journalists and other experts, he owes much of the uncertainty about Putin’s fortune to people like Roldugin who help channel the corrupt money.

For example, Roldugin is said to have transferred large sums of money to the oligarch Suleiman Karimov, which is good for wealth. Nearly 10 billion dollars† Karimov has also been on the EU sanctions list since March 15.

He owes this dubious honor to attending a meeting in the Kremlin on February 24, the day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In this meeting with his inner circle, Putin discussed Russia’s response to Western sanctions over the invasion.

Roldogen himself was already on the European sanctions list, on February 28 to be exact. The cellist’s name is associated with at least five companies in the mailbox. He is also a client of the Bank of Russia, known in Moscow as “Putin’s Wallet”.

Strowman to Putin

At least $2 billion is funneled through its bank accounts and email companies to keep it out of reach of tax authorities, Unveils ICIJ Collegiate Journalist 2016 Based on the Panama Papers.

The question is whether this money really belongs to Roldogen. There is a good chance that he is behaving like an alleged front man, and that the money is in fact for people from Putin’s periphery. Or from Putin himself.

The fact is that Roldugin’s name will also appear in a later investigation into tax evasion by wealthy Russians. He would play a pivotal role in the so-called Troika Laundry. A money laundering machine in which huge sums are pumped through a large network of companies. he is Receives more than 69 million dollars Through his own companies.

Compensation for breach of contract

Part of this — nearly $12 million — is due to a contract fee breach. In total, sixteen contracts were dissolved again a few weeks after Roldugin was signed.

Roldugin did not answer any questions regarding his alleged involvement in the Troika Laundromat. He said in 2014: “I don’t have millions.” to the New York Times†

In any case, he is not completely without means: he is playing a cello from 1732 by the famous instrument maker Antonio Stradivarius. Bought it at auction in 2016. Auction house clears up afterwards, but According to the Moscow Times, He would have paid $12 million for it.

Oligarchy, what is this anyway?

When it comes to Russian oligarchs, it is traditionally referred to the businessmen who built the foundations of their fortunes in the last days of the Soviet Union. Through relationships with (corrupt) government officials, they were often offered valuable state-owned enterprises in exchange for an apple and an egg, which were expanded into powerful conglomerates in the following decades.

In the broadest sense of the word, it often refers to all wealthy Russian businessmen with close ties to the Moscow government.