But what is the largest yacht in the world, but what a thousand and one nights homes in Switzerland, on the Black Sea or in an exotic location. Citizen Vladimir Putin for example. In 2021, the Russian president made just €114,000 by declaring ownership of a 77 square meter apartment in Moscow, two locally made cars, a Volga subcompact and a Niva all-terrain vehicleplus a cart trailer other than those used for camping holidays.

his prime minister
Mikhail Mishustin is doing better, with an income of 18.3 million rubles, slightly less than the previous year, che still earns 204 thousand euros at the uncertain current exchange rate. Fortunately, he can count on his wife Vladlena Mishustina, who even without any entrepreneurial activity recognized, as that evil dissident Alexej Navalny denounced in 2020, took home 64.5 million rubles, 721 thousand euros, so the family budget is safe What about the former president and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, now vice president of the Security Council, who earns only 8.3 million rubles, which corresponds to 94 thousand moderate euros, a salary that would exceed even the 5-star rating of the past .

And it can go on indefinitely. Making a flea with politicians’ tax returns is an exercise in style, not just in journalism which is ubiquitous. However, it was also in Moscow when it was possible investigations into the merits of ministers and rulers always relate to their property abroad But for months now, the media around the world has been chasing the wealth of the people affected by the sanctions adopted by the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union. And the first names of the recipients of these measures are almost always the same, starting with the three just mentioned. So the contrast between its overall size alleged hidden fortunes abroad and the income declared to their own country’s tax authorities seems, at least to Western eyes, even more shocking.

The low level of Russian income of Putin and his ministers should not be deceiving. The first 32 senior officials of the Russian government, almost all deputies of United Russia, the president’s party, each still earned more than 65.7 million rubles in 2021, almost 5.5 million rubles per month, which amounts to 66 thousand euros per month at the current exchange rate. This in a country with one of the lowest average incomes in the world. The salary of a Russian citizen today is about 40 thousand rubles per month, 480 euros. The tendency of Kremlin leaders to build their wealth abroad creates an apparent paradox. Do the simple majority peon already Russian parliament seems much cheaper than Putin’s adviser Deputies earn about 4.3 million rubles, 110 times the average salary of a Russian, while incomes reported by Kremlin officials are only 28 times higher.

To trust the official statements turns out to be the richest of them all Vladimir Medinsky, the former Minister of Culturevery loyal to Putin as well as head of the Russian delegation to the negotiations with Kiev, who earns 107 million rubles, almost a million and 290 thousand euros, but a significant leap forward compared to 2020 when it had only 17.6 million rubles, or 196 thousand euros. But looks are deceiving. THEForeign Minister Sergei Lavrov declares 12.6 million rubles, 141 thousand euroswith an increase of 2.5 million compared to the previous year, which will probably not be good for the expenses of 2016, when Polina Kovaleva, the 21-year-old daughter of her partner, bought an apartment worth 4 in cash. .4 million pounds (5 . €3 million) in the London Borough of South Kensington. Also Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesmanis under the weapon of sanctions, even if at home he is satisfied with a salary of 14.5 million rubles (162 thousand euros), much lower than his wife’s income, former Olympic speed skating champion Tatiana Navka, authentic lintel of the Peskov family with its 218.5 million, equal to 2.4 million euros. Opposite the Russian Patriarchate.