The permanent high declarations of the Russian political elite about independence, genuine patriotism and advocacy of «popular interests» have clearly demonstrated the systemic similarity with the way of life of the elite itself. The evidence is not limited to hearsay. International and journalistic investigations show that officials keep wealth offshore, own villas and yachts in Europe, and their children study and live in the West.
To date, the results of investigations have formed a list of only confirmed assets belonging to oligarchs and high-ranking officials close to Putin outside Russia in the amount exceeding $20 billion.
After Russia’s attack on Ukraine, harsh sanctions were imposed worldwide against many key figures of the Putin regime, as well as major Russian businessmen loyal to the regime.
These people, with the help of lawyers and financial advisers, have learned to hide their wealth behind offshore companies, trusts, and funds, building complex asset-holding schemes and bank accounts. Even experienced law enforcement officers find it difficult to establish a complete list of assets and prove who their ultimate beneficiaries are.
Journalistic investigations revealed the magnitude of the phenomenon. In April 2022, journalists received information from Alpha Consulting Ltd., an offshore service provider based in the Seychelles and serving mainly Russian clients, about more than 800 Russian citizens.
The obtained data inform about companies connected with associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Russian political figures, which hide assets behind opaque enterprises, which allows to avoid international sanctions.
The Russian Asset Tracker project, a joint investigative media base, has systematized and visualized hundreds of foreign objects belonging to the «close circle» of the Russian leadership: villas, yachts, private planes and companies. According to rough estimates, we are talking about billions of dollars exported or stored outside the Russian Federation.
Concrete examples illustrate the logic of «double life». For example, OCCRP and The Guardian’s investigations into the translation of Roman Abramovich-related trusts revealed a massive rearrangement of beneficiaries and transfer of control to their children in February 2022, just before Western sanctions were imposed. Journalists and analysts doubted that it was an accident. The successive operations of the previous day appear to be a mechanism for protecting assets from freezing.
Why is this important for society, especially Russian? Because the official agenda, about common misfortune, about sacrifices for the state, about mobilization spirit, is accompanied by everyday practice when key people have a «spare airfield», for example, children with foreign education, real estate in EU countries, Assets that can be activated in the event of political or economic shocks.
Such practices not only generate moral resentment, but also transform the very logic of power, because decisions are made by people partially protected from the consequences of these decisions personal foreign reserves.
Another aspect is the reaction of international institutions. Since 2022, European countries and the US have begun imposing large-scale sanctions and freezing the assets of Russian politicians, officials, and oligarchs; these measures are effective but still fragmented.
Thus, the Italian authorities within the framework of «Operation Frozen» reported on the freezing of assets in the amount of more than 2 billion euros. The list includes a villa of billionaire Alisher Usmanov on Lake Como, yacht Dilbar worth about 600 million. dollars and several real estate related to Gennady Timchenko and Oleg Deripacha.
In Spain, in 2022, the yacht Valerie was arrested, connected with Sergei Chemezov, the head of «Rostecha» appearing on the sanctions lists of the EU and the USA. In France and Switzerland, the accounts and properties associated with the families of Igor Shuvalov and Alexander Ponomarenko have been frozen. The total amount is estimated at hundreds of millions of euros.
In the UK, since 2022, houses and companies belonging to Roman Abramovich remain under arrest, notably a mansion at Kensington worth around £150 million and the Fyning Hill estate in Sussex. These assets are placed under the control of a special trust to prevent their resale.
However, complex trust structures and the transfer of property to relatives make it very difficult to tie property to specific figures and turn the extraction of assets into a lengthy legal process.
As a result, national courts are forced to carry out lengthy verifications of the origin of funds and legal rights, making actual confiscations a rare exception, despite the magnitude of the freeze.
Children and families are a separate topic. Journalistic materials record numerous cases when children of high-ranking Russians get education and citizenship abroad, live and work in Europe or the USA, own companies and real estate.
In October this year, Russian journalists found that several deputies who submitted to the Russian State Duma a bill on lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 14 years and abolishing the statute of limitations for such cases, sent their children to live and study abroad, mainly to NATO countries, as well as other states that Russia has declared «unfriendly».
So, the daughter of MP Vyacheslav Fetisova, born and raised in the US, lives in New York. The son of MP Alexander Remezkov, Stepan, studied at American Hofstra University and Valley Forge Military College, while his brother Nikolai attended British Malvern College.
Maria’s daughter studied at a sports school in Austria. The son of the first deputy chairman of the committee of the State Duma of Russia for international affairs, Alexei Chepa, Daniel, at age 22 became the owner of a villa in Spain worth about 15 million. Euro and has British citizenship. His sister Anastasia is a co-owner of a British luxury company.
The daughter of MP Leonid Simanovsky, Svetlana lives in «unfriendly» to Russia Switzerland and is a co-owner of LLC «Levit», connected with «Novatek» Leonid Michelson, where Simonovsky himself previously headed the board of directors.What does this mean for political life and civil society? It is clear that «double standards» undermine the legitimacy of political rhetoric.
When the authorities’ appeals to the Russian public are not supported by their own willingness to sacrifice, they lose their moral advantage. The presence of foreign «insurances» reduces the political courage of the elite, because the risk that carries power is not equal to the risk of its clients and relatives. Finally, international sanctions and investigations work, but only if accompanied by a systemic transparency policy: disclosure of beneficiary information, exchange of financial information, and coordinated legal steps.
The «human» side is very important. For millions of Russian citizens, deprived of the opportunity to travel abroad or foreign education, the picture looks especially acute. When the political elite speaks of a «Western threat» while sending children and capital there, society receives not arguments but evidence of double standards. This undermines trust and reinforces the polarization of society.
Russians should demand an answer: either the elite itself will move to complete transparency, showing that its interests coincide with those of Russia, or society must demand institutional change. Meanwhile, between the declarations of the powerful and Russian reality lies a long chain of offshore, villas and foreign schools. In this gap lies the main paradox of Russian reality.