Oleg Tinkov, the founder of a major Russian digital bank, is the latest and the fourth billionaire to renounce his Russian citizenship because of the conflict in Ukraine.
The entrepreneur took this decision saying that he can't and won't be associated with a fascist country that started a war with their peaceful neighbour and killing innocent people daily.
Tinkov hopes more prominent Russian businessmen will follow his path, so as to weaken Vladimir Putin's regime and his economy, and put him eventually to defeat. He also shared an image of a certificate, on Instagram, confirming the ending of his Russian citizenship.
However, his post on Instagram vanished from his account. But Tinkov posted a new one in English and Russian saying his previous post disappeared mysteriously. "Must be Kremlin's trolls. Reiterating, I have decided to throw out Russian citizenship after Russia invades Ukraine, and start killing innocents there."
Hate's Putin's Russia
Oleg Tinkov, whose net worth is around $646.7 million, had previously criticized the war in Ukraine as "crazy" and called on the West to end the massacre. "I hate Putin's Russia, but love all Russians who are clearly against this crazy war," he said.
Renowned as one of Russia's best-known self-made tycoons, Tinkov founded Tinkoff Bank in 2006. This is now one of the world's largest online banks, having around 8 million customers in Russia. Tinkov said he will engage with lawyers to start revoking Tinkoff brand from the bank. "I hate when my brand/name is associated with the bank that collaborates with killers and blood."
The 54-year-old is also the founder of Daria, which is a frozen food producer, Tinkoff Beer, and Tinkoff Restaurants. The colourful billionaire launched a chain of luxury-hotels in Mexico, France, Italy and Russia under the name "La Datcha".
Tinkov was targeted by British sanctions soon after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.
