16 July 2026 , 21:56
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Several of Russia’s richest people including some close to President Vladimir Putin have moved billions of dollars abroad in the past year after growing concerned about the country’s economy and the government budget.
High-profile asset seizures have intensified fears among members of the Russian elite that the state could confiscate their wealth or that they may lose their fortunes, according to six wealthy Russians and other people familiar with the thinking of several of the country’s billionaires.
Several billionaires moved some additional assets out of Russia recently, amid concerns about the banking sector, according to some of the people and documents including corporate filings and property purchase records reviewed by Bloomberg News.
There has been a shift in portfolios held by some of Russia’s wealthiest people over the last year, accelerating in recent months, toward cryptocurrency, gold and foreign property and private investment funds, especially in the Gulf, the people said. They were granted anonymity to discuss personal financial arrangements that aren’t public.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Russia’s billionaire elite was welcomed in the West for decades, gaining reputations for major business deals, glamorous property purchases and lavish parties. After Putin ordered the February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, plunging relations with the US and Europe to their worst since the Cold War, international sanctions forced many Russian tycoons to move assets back to Russia and re-register their companies there. Many saw their overseas assets frozen.
At home, though, they faced different risks. Since 2024, authorities have intensified high-profile asset seizures targeting a number of tycoons, including some who sought to maintain ties with the outside world, even if only through dual citizenship, or who had previously held official positions. The slowdown of the Russian economy since 2025 further reduced their profits and limited opportunities to preserve and grow their wealth domestically.
While it’s difficult to calculate the scale of informal outflows of capital, such as opaque crypto transactions that don’t feature in official data, a conservative estimate of the money leaving Russia outside of official figures so far this year is in the tens of billions of dollars, according to two people familiar with the investment decisions of several Russian billionaires. This was an increase compared to last year, they said.
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