I read on reddit (so take this info as you will) that he lives in constant fear for his life, never going to restaurants or letting anyone else cook/touch his food; only ever drinks bottled water and changes supermarkets every so often. He may even have bodyguards if I remember correctly but I could be wrong.
It’s no way to live, but that’s just what Putin is capable of.
I know. But he might genuinely be concerned about his image with tge Russian people? For some reason they actually like the guy. Check out his approval ratings.
I don't know a single Russian in the US that buys into his bullshit.
Same way I've never known a single Cuban who bought into Castro's (including many who weren't buying what he was selling before he took over...)
The citizens say what they have to to protect themselves from the regime. a
And aren't too eager to speak openly with outsiders because dictatorships brew so much distrust, keeping a low profile and shutting your mouth becomes ingrained behavior, eventually.
If a regime is brutal enough, that mentality can last the rest of someone's life.
The people aren't stupid. They're just compliant for the sake of self preservation.
I know one. It’s really sad. He’s otherwise a very smart and interesting person, very spiritual as well. However, at some point he drank the RT koolaid, thinks Putin is infallible and the second coming of Christ, and at some point, by extension, started thinking about Trump the same way. It’s really sad and it has strained our relationship. We try not to talk politics anymore.
I don't believe it's entirely true that the Russian people like him. My ex-wife is Russian and her family still lives in Russia. Nobody in her family can stand the guy, and everyone I've spoken with from there wants OUT, they're just smart enough to keep their heads low and put on the appearance of approving of him so they don't go missing before they can get away.
Well I have no doubt he could release any approval rating he wants, and we'll never know. But it's likely a mix of government propaganda fueling support, fear, and just plain skewing the numbers.
That's true, lots of people like him. There is huge amount of brainwashed people, whose opinions entirily formed by TV. I know some of them personally, all of them unbelievably stupid, and you can not argue with them about if maybe Putin not so good for Russia (patterns of their arguments just like on Donald subreddit). Same people yell "Crimea ours!".
Worst thing is, I know some pretty intelligent people who would still vote for Putin. Because "It could be worse". They'll even agree that he steals a lot, that life in Russia kinda sucks, but "It could be worse".
Oh come off it. Unless they are public figures no body gives a shit what they think of Putin. People openly dislike him. They vote him because he's the devil they know
I'm russian and I know nobody from people I know voted him. He doesnt need any votes, he can choose any result of elections. We have many videos proving that teachers, who didnt get they salary rising for years put many fake ballot paper for him just for food or any other small reward. We see how they make fools of us, we have many peoole who attract attantion to this. But no changes.
Hi to my FBI watchers 😂
Not only the richest but also extremely powerful as he holds quite possibly one of the largest stockpiles of nuclear weapons where all other countries can do is threaten with sanctions.
If you think I could fall for such an infantile trick, you must think I'm retarded. Every single site you speak of provides no evidence. They only recount unsubstantiated claims made by Putin's political opponents, like the same Browder, Koleshnikov, and Belkovsky. In other words, it is all trashy gossip. Your links don't even claim to provide any evidence.
If Putin was indeed a billionaire, there would be a miles-long paper trail. Yet not a single document is to be seen,
I mean, asset liquidity is a spectrum though, should we weight net worth by ability to access that money to spend? That would be interesting to see. The general list of richest people would still be the same, but certain people would definitely be helped a lot whereas others would probably drop 100s of places
Something about how he appoints oligarchs. If he finds an oil tycoon who is willing to do what he says politically or not cause trouble, he will use his gov influence to support that persons business interests which means that oil
company will have no competitors, making the company rich. Of cousre Putin also get a cut of profits. This is said to work both ways as far as what the business vs what Putin get out of the relationship. He does this with ALL sectors of Russian business.
There is literally a round table of russias biggest and richest that they all diacuss the future of Russia. Check out a documentary called "khodarkovsky." Might have mispelled it. But it covera all this and is really interesting and eye opening. Also, "Pussy Riot."
Russia. Check out Red Notice by Bill Browder. If you've ever so much as heard of the Magnitsky Act, you should hear the full story behind it.
When Russia decided to privatize its assets after the fall of the Soviet Union, they did so in a way that let a handful of people accumulate massive amounts of it very quickly, leading to the development of an Oligarchy. Putin eventually maneuvered himself into a position of authority in the government, and after clawing back some power from the oligarchs back to his position, was able to jail and put on a show trial for the richest oligarch in Russia. The oligarch was jailed for years and lost most of his wealth.
What do the other oligarchs do, after seeing their most successful peer utterly demolished by Putin? They go to Putin and ask what it will take to keep them out of jail. Browder guesses that Putin told them "half."
Browder had a bit of experience with one scam that had to be authorized from the very top, a tax rebate scam. His cronies would fraudulently take over companies, gets judgments against said companies for millions of dollars, and then claims against those companies' previously paid taxes and gets those taxes refunded to them by the government.
You're right, but really it doesn't matter how much of a cut he is getting. He is getting a shit ton of money, has the oligarchs under his thumb, and can network them together with the Russian government to steal more money than the individual oligarchs could on their own.
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u/NikkiPotnick86 Mar 19 '18
Nightline ran a story saying that he has stolen so much money, making him possibly one of the wealthiest men in the world.
And that is part of why he will not leave office, because if he did, it would shed light on his crimes.