Houses, yachts, planes
The luxury treasures of the oligarchs: “Russian Asset Tracker” reveals the secrets of the super-rich
The secrets of the Russian elite on a silver platter: The enthusiasm of the oligarchs, like Roman Abramovich here, should be limited.
© Clive Mason / Staff / Getty Images
They hide behind letterbox companies, sign their property over to their families – and yet they own everything. Billionaires have little interest in revealing their secrets. But what is the internet for?
The “Organized Crime & Corruption Reporting Project” (OCCRP) strikes again: In the “Russian asset tracker” More than 20 media outlets are now documenting the luxurious properties owned by Russian oligarchs and how the billionaires are trying to hide their wealth from the public.
So far, the journalists have identified 149 assets of Russian elites and their families with a total value of $17.5 billion. The reports feature famous names such as Abramovich, Usmanov, Sechin and Deripaska, but also lesser-known oligarchs and officials, such as Vladimir Solovyov, who works for the Russian state broadcaster Rossiya 1 and spreads Putin’s propaganda around the world.
It’s all a matter of data
As a basis for research, the media access both public register data and numerous data leaks. Of course, earlier projects are also of great use, such as the “Panama Papers” or the “Pandora Papers”, the revelations of which are of great help, for example, in the assignment of letterbox companies.
Because that’s exactly the problem: Very few of the possessions of the Russian oligarchs are reported directly to the respective persons. In the case of yachts, letterbox companies in the Caribbean take care of the registration, houses often belong to family members or friends. When enforcing sanctions against the often pro-government elites from Russia, this slows down investigations and makes it more difficult to confiscate assets.
The hide and seek ends
However, the war in Ukraine is motivating many countries around the world to put an end to the anonymous accumulation of gigantic sums of money. More and more journalists and governments are looking for connections to beneficiaries of the Russian government.
This is definitely showing success: the first super yachts and mega villas have already been confiscated, accounts have been frozen. Outside of Russia, the world is getting smaller for the billionaires. This is also due to the fact that more and more people are taking a closer look at where the riches are and to whom they belong.
So not only the “Russian Asset Tracker” is after the oligarchs, but also projects like the Twitter account “Russian Oligarch Jets“, which tracks private jets around the world up to the minute, or the page “Sanctions Ahoy!“, which shows on an interactive world map where the mega yachts of the Russian elite are currently located.
Navalny hits back at Putin confidante
Politician Alexei Navalny, who is critical of the Kremlin, also plays a role in the hunt for the oligarchs. The “Russian Asset Tracker” first deals with the so-called “Navalny 35”, a group of 35 people who are said to be close to Vladimir Putin and who are said to be connected to the poisoning of the opposition two years ago.
It is also Navalny’s team that is currently putting a lot of effort into uncovering the true owner of the $600 million yacht Scheherazade. in one Youtube video The team shows documents from the crew, photographs of the decks of the Lürssen yacht and alleged evidence intended to prove that the ship belongs to Putin himself. Most recently, the Russian billionaire Eduard Yuryevich Khudainatow was named as the owner by the Italian media (find out more here).
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