Vladimir Putin is a Russian politician and has an estimated net worth of $70 billion. Vladimir Putin’s political career started in the beginning of the 1990s. He became Deputy Mayor of Saint Petersburg to Mayor Anatoly Sobchak and was in charge of international relations, attracting foreign investment. In 1999, then-President Boris Yeltsin appointed Putin as Prime Minister of Russia and later resigned, making Putin the Acting President of the Russian Federation.

What is Vladimir Putin’s net worth?

In 2000, he won the presidential election and, consequently, two four-year terms, ending in 2008. As president, he pursued various reforms to improve the economy, alleviate poverty, and entrench the rule of law. He further had the regional governments under the umbrella of federal control and cracked down on oligarchs who had become influential during the 1990s. In 2008, Putin was not allowed to stand for a third consecutive term due to constitutional term limits. He became Prime Minister once more, with his close associate Dmitry Medvedev assuming the presidency. An amendment to the constitution extending the presidential term to six years allowed Putin to return to the presidency in 2012.

In his third and fourth terms, Putin has been concerned with proving the role of Russia as a geopolitical player. In 2014, he annexed Crimea from Ukraine, over which Russia was slapped with international sanctions. He intervened militarily in Syria to support the government of President Bashar al-Assad. Constitutional changes he introduced in 2020 have enabled him to potentially stay in power until 2036. In February 2022, Putin oversaw the invasion by Russia of Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin’s Secret Billion Dollar Fortune

Official disclosures place Putin’s annual Presidential salary at $187,000 (5.8 million rubles). In 2012, he reported an income of 3.6 million rubles ($113,000). Putin also claims to have a relatively meager net worth consisting of $180,000 in a savings account, a few Russian-made automobiles, and a 16,000-square-foot plot of land in the Moscow suburbs. Putin’s ex-wife Lyudmila controls bank accounts totaling $260,000. All told they claimed their net worth totaled less than $500,000.

Though many formerly state-owned industries were privatized, Putin reportedly has utilized his position to amass large, secret ownership stakes in several multi-billion dollar commodity companies. His harshest critics believe that Putin has used his position to obtain a 4.5% ownership stake in natural gas producer Gazprom, a 37% stake in oil company Surgutneftegas, and a 50% stake in Swiss oil trader Gunvor. Gazprom generates more than $150 billion of revenue per year; Guvnor $80 billion and Surgutneftegas more than $20 billion. If we utilize their latest market capitalizations, Putin’s combined ownership stakes would render him a personal net worth of $70 billion.

Early Life

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born on October 7, 1952, in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (what is now Saint Petersburg). His mother, Maria, was a factory worker, and his father, Vladimir Spiridonovich, was a conscript in the Soviet Navy. At age twelve, he began practicing the martial arts of Judo and sambo and is a Judo black belt. He speaks German fluently, having studied German at Saint Petersburg High School 281.

Putin studied Law at Leningrad State University, not Saint Petersburg University, graduating in 1975. It was while at university that he met Anatoly Sobchak, the co-author of the Russian constitution and an assistant professor who taught business law. He greatly influenced Putin’s career.

Political Career

Following graduation with a law degree, Putin started his political career with 16 years of service in the KGB. He was trained at the 401st KGB school in Okhta, Leningrad. Following his time monitoring foreigners and consular officials in Leningrad, he was sent to Moscow in 1984 for further training at the Yuri Andropov Red Banner Institute. He then was stationed in Dresden, East Germany from 1985 to 1990, under the cover identity of a translator. He

moved back to Leningrad upon the fall of the Communist East German government, reuniting with Anatoly Sobchak while he was at his post overseeing the International Affairs section at Leningrad State University. Putin states that he resigned from the KGB on the second day of the 1991 coup attempt against then-President Mikhail Gorbachev because he did not support what had occurred and did not want to be a part of the intelligence operation of the new post-coup administration.

Soon, Sobchak became the Mayor of Leningrad, and Putin was appointed head of the Committee for External Relations of the Mayor’s Office. From there, he pursued his political career through various political and governmental positions. In July 1998, then-President Boris Yeltsin appointed Putin as Director of the Federal Security Service (FSB)-the successor to the KGB and the main intelligence and security organization of the Russian Federation.

He was appointed acting Prime Minister of the Government of the Russian Federation by Yeltsin on August 9, 1999, and later that day, Putin agreed to run for the presidency after Yeltsin stated his desire to see Putin as his successor. His first Presidential term lasted from 2000 – 2008. Putin was also Prime Minister of Russia from 1999 – 2000 and again from 2008 – 2012. Over the years, Putin has earned a very controversial reputation. He is frequently criticized by other world leaders and political experts for his handling of human rights and foreign policy issues. Many Westerners have called the circumstances under which he has continued to hold office in Russia “undemocratic.” Still, Putin has been fairly popular among the Russian people ever since taking over as President in 1999 following the surprise resignation of Boris Yeltsin.

In February 2022, Putin launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine that provoked expanded sanctions and international condemnation. The International Criminal Court, in March 2023, issued an arrest warrant for him on war crimes for the illegal abductions of children during the war. Vladimir Putin Billionaire (Photo by Peter Muhly – WPA Pool/Getty Images) Personal Life and Public Image Putin married Lyudmila Shkrebneva on July 28, 1983.

Between 1985 and 1990, they lived in East Germany where their daughter Yekaterina Putina was born. Their other daughter Mariya Putina was born in Leningrad. They announced their divorce in June 2013 and confirmed it had been finalized in April 2014. It is reported that Putin has two grandsons and a granddaughter. It has been rumored that he resides in a palace on a $1.5 billion estate with his gymnast girlfriend Alina Kabaeva. This has never been confirmed, and reports of the couple’s relationship have been denied. His public image is fairly unique for a politician, largely characterized by his “macho” outdoorsy

image. He has been famously shirtless on several occasions or engaging in various dangerous and extreme sports. He is also famous for his “Putinisms,” aphorisms that come from his unique use of the Russian language (similar to how George W. Bush is famous for his malapropisms here in the United States). One example of “Putinism” occurred during an interview with American journalist Larry King, who asked him what happened to a Russian submarine that had been lost in an explosion – Putin answered simply, “She sank.”