The Tricky Business of Inheriting Billions in Russia
Safeguarding wealth in the country often hinges on personal ties and tacit agreements. But can an oligarch pass that to the next generation?
The buildings of the Kremlin complex sit beside the Moskva River in Moscow.
Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/BloombergWith Vladimir Putin now in his last consecutive presidential term, post-communist Russia’s first generation of billionaires is starting to test his commitment to private property by giving parts of their wealth to heirs.
One of Russia’s oldest tycoons, Vladimir Evtushenkov, 70, led off last summer, ceding a stake in the AFK Sistema conglomerate to his son Felix shortly after Putin was sworn in. Lukoil PJSC co-founder Leonid Fedun followed, granting a total of $1.3 billion of the energy giant’s stock to his son and daughter in October, just before Evtushenkov doubled Felix’s holding to 5 percent.