PUTIN’S ALLEGED $40 BILLION FORTUNE

An allegation was made in Die Welt on 12th November that Vladimir Putin was sitting on a fortune, which he had accrued during his tenure in the Kremlin after appointing comrades to powerful positions. The allegation was made by Stanislav Belkovsky. In 2002 Belkovsky co-founded The Council for National Strategy, resigned from that, and then co-founded the National Strategy Institute in 2004.

So who financed Belkovsky’s The Council for National Strategy and National Strategy Institute?

Belkovsky is credited with either predicting, preparing the Russian public for, or warning the Russian public of, the assault on Yukos and Khodorkovsky in a series of articles in 2003 and blaming it on a group of oligarchs.

However, several commentators have linked Belkovsky with Boris Berezovsky, but, as far as I know, no evidence has been put forth to support this. One such article entitled “Oligarchs, True and False”, by Vladimir Pribylovsky was published by The Jamestown Foundation, which has Zbigniew Brzezinski on its board.

The allegations made by Belkovsky about Putin’s fortune were made at an opportune time for certain people. The substance of those allegations also adds to the opportunism. Belkovsky also alleged that the Russian economy is about to fail, that Putin has been lucky with high oil prices, and that Putin would retire from politics and take up a high profile position, for example as head of the International Olympic Committee, just to protect himself from internal and external enemies.

The allegations were published on 12th November in Die Welt. The Russian elections were held a few weeks later on the 2nd December. Die Welt is published by Axel Springer AG, which openly supports Israel, was one of several European newspapers to publish the cartoons of Mohammed in early 2006 that sparked Muslim riots across the world, and is managed by Bilderberger (2005) Matthias Dopfner.

Following Time magazine awarding Putin the title Man of the Year 2007, the Belkovsky allegations resurfaced in UK newspapers.

Today, one of the allegations made by Belkovsky has been debunked. The oil company Gunvor was alleged by Belkovsky to be at least 75% controlled by Putin. Gunvor’s CEO Torbjorn Tornqvist has today written a letter to The Guardian in reply to The Guardian’s article on Belkovsky’s claims published on 21st December. Gunvor states;

“Your story (Putin, the Kremlin power struggle and the $40bn fortune, December 21) contained serious inaccuracies about Gunvor, the oil-trading firm of which I am the chief executive officer. In fairness to the Guardian, which I know to be a reputable and serious newspaper, you are not the first to print information about supposed links to President Putin.
First, it is plain wrong to state that President Putin owns any part of Gunvor, or is a beneficiary of its activities. This company is majority owned by its founders, Guennadi Timtchenko and myself, with a minority of the shares held by a third investor. None of the shares in this organisation are held by President Putin or by anyone allied with him.
The media seem to believe that this company makes multibillion-dollar profits each year, and that it mysteriously enjoys profit margins way out of kilter with others in the oil-trading sector. I wish this were the case, but the truth is that our profits are in the hundreds of millions, not the billions; this is the norm for a business of our scale operating in our sector. We are a well-run organisation and I am proud of our activities and our record - but it is simply wrong to suggest that we benefit from favours granted over trading contracts in Russia and leading to multibillion-dollar profits.
Some of the inaccurate stories about Gunvor seem to have gained currency because my co-founder, Mr Timtchenko, did indeed know President Putin in the days before the latter became famous. However, suggestions that they share a KGB heritage or have been in business together are wide of the mark.
Torbjorn Tornqvist
CEO, Gunvor Group, Geneva..”

I think there is trick, trick, trickery afoot from certain camps based in London, trying to capitalise on, or engineer, destabilization brought about since Putin named his preferred successor. The website http://www.apn.ru is reportedly run by the The National Strategy Institute [1], and is believed to be financed by Berezovsky.[2]

Examine the timing and accuracy of the allegations;

1.a few weeks before the Russian parliamentary elections, Belkovsky claims Putin is sitting on a multi-billion dollar fortune.

2.The allegations are printed in a pro-Israel, Muslim-hating German newspaper run by a Bilderberger.

3.a few days after Putin is named Man of the Year, and he has named his preferred successor, the same allegations are recycled in The Guardian.

4.today, one of those allegations has been denied in a letter to The Guardian.

[1]http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/russia/2007/russia-070925-rferl02.htm

[2]http://www.rferl.org/specials/russia/babitsky/part2.asp