Vladimir Putin claims he has made less than $1 million as Russian President, a post he has held for the past six years. The revelation was made in financial documents published on Tuesday by Russia’s election authority, according to a Newsweek report. The documents show that Mr Putin made 67.6 million rubles, which is approximately $753,000, between 2018 and 2024. This amount also includes income from bank deposits, a military pension and money he made from property sales. He is fighting the presidential elections against in March, and will most certainly win.
Mr Putin has been in power for several decades – as Russia’s president from 2000 to 2008 and since 2012, with a stint as Prime Minister. The official figures about his income were released after he formally filed nomination for the March election.
By contrast, the president of the United States has an annual salary of $400,000, as per the Newsweek report.
Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) said that Mr Putin has savings of 54.5 million rubles ($606,000) in 10 different bank accounts and he also owns a few vehicles. These are: two vintage Soviet Unions cars – GAZ M-21s – manufactured in the 1960s, a Russian-made 4X4 from 2009 and a 1987 camping trailer.
The Russian president also owns an apartment in Moscow, and an apartment and a garage in St Petersburg.
The documents were released a day after a Moscow Times report claimed he has a secret residence near Russia’s border with Finland. The outlet said that Mr Putin’s alleged hideout is situated in Lake Ladoga National Park in Karelia and features three modern-style houses on the shore of Marjalahti Bay, two helipads, several yacht piers, a trout farm and a farm with cows for marbled beef production.
The Russian presidential election will be held over a three-day period from March 15 to 17, a move that Kremlin critics have argued makes guaranteeing transparency more difficult.
Following a controversial constitutional reform in 2020, 71-year-old Putin could stay in power until at least 2036.
