Tinkov says he sold 35% of his stake in TCS Group, which owns Tinkoff Bank, to Russian oligarch and mining titan Vladimir Potanin last week after Kremlin officials threatened to nationalize the bank if he did not sever ties with the bank. businessman. Speaking to the Financial Times, Tinkov, 54, one of Russia’s few self-made businessmen, said he was in an unknown location and feared for his safety. The businessman said he was hiring bodyguards, adding that he had survived leukemia, but “maybe now the Kremlin will kill me.” On Thursday, the bank announced that Tinkov had sold his stake in TCS Group to Interros Capital, a company run by Potanin, one of Russia’s richest men. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Potanin, who has not been sanctioned by the EU, the US or the UK, also agreed to buy Rosbank from Société Générale in April. Potanin has been sanctioned by Canada. Speaking to the Financial Times on Monday, Tinkov said he had been forced into a “fire sale”. He believes he sold his stake in the bank for about 3 percent of its real value. Earnings from Tinkoff’s global custodian in London – certificates that allow investors to bet on Russian stocks on world markets – fell from $ 112 in October to $ 3.19 when they were suspended in March. Tinkov, who has amassed a multibillion-dollar fortune for decades to become one of the country’s most high-profile businessmen, has so far tried to distance himself from the Kremlin, but has stopped talking openly against Putin. That approach changed last month when he wrote a series of Instagram posts criticizing the war in Ukraine. In a post, Tinkov said: “I do not see ANYONE benefiting from this crazy war! “Innocent people and soldiers are dying.” He added: “How good will the army be if everything else in the country is shit and sunken? [nepotism] and servitude? ”

Only a handful of business leaders in Russia have spoken out against the war, and very few have used language as strong as Tinkov’s. Many chose to say they were against the war in general. Tinkov, however, was particularly critical of Putin and the Kremlin’s decision to invade Ukraine. Putin has made it clear to the country’s oligarchs – including at a large meeting in the Kremlin days after the outbreak of war – that they risked losing their businesses if they did not support the war. Several people after that meeting said they felt powerless to influence Putin’s decision. In the decades since he first came to power, Putin has imposed his will on the oligarchs by responding to any criticism with retaliation, leaving them with far reduced influence. Tinkoff, the bank Tinkov started in 2006, denied the allegations, saying there were “no threats of any kind against the bank’s leadership”. The Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for Potanin’s Interros investment vehicle declined to comment. In March, Tinkov was placed on a UK sanctions list and his assets were frozen, and he was barred from doing business with British citizens and companies. He is also barred from traveling to or from the United Kingdom. News of Tinkov’s allegations was first reported by the New York Times.