Oleg Tinkov hired a bodyguard and claims that he was forced to sell his 35 percent stake in Tinkoff Bank for a fraction of its true value after being targeted in Russia for criticizing the invasion of Ukraine.
The often controversial former world tour team owner walked away from professional cycling in 2016 and focused on making Tinkoff one of Russia's largest online banks.
Alberto Contador won the Giro d'Italia in 2015 with Tinkoff-Saxo, but Tinkoff was frustrated by Team Sky's dominance in the Tour de France and tried to buy the British team. He gave a farewell interview to Cycling News in 2016.
Tinkoff has been battling leukemia since 2019 and recently paid $507 million to settle a tax fraud case in the United States, but always denied being an oligarch or a supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He made headlines last month when he criticized the war in Ukraine in one of his most outspoken comments against the Russian invasion.
"Not a single person is benefiting from this crazy war. Innocent people and soldiers are dying," Tinkov wrote in an Instagram post. The [Russian] generals woke up with hangovers and realized they had a shitty army. How can the army be good when everything else in the country is shitty and riddled with cronyism, sycophancy, and slavism?"
Speaking to The New York Times (opens in new tab) in his first interview and Instagram post since the war began, Tinkoff claimed that Putin's regime threatened to nationalize his bank if he did not cut ties with him.
Last week Tinkoff sold a 35% stake in Tinkoff to a Russian mining billionaire in what he described as a "desperate sale, a fire sale."
"We couldn't discuss the price. We were like hostages, we would just take what was offered. There was no negotiation," The New York Times quoted Tinkoff as saying.
Tinkov explained that he hired his bodyguards because his contacts in the Russian Security Service told him that his friends should fear for their lives. Tinkov quipped that he had overcome leukemia, but that perhaps "the Kremlin would kill me."
"They told me. 'I don't know if that means they will kill me. I don't deny that."
The New York Times claimed that Tinkoff spoke out against the war more strongly than any other Russian business leader.
"I realized that the country of Russia no longer exists," Tinkov said.
"I believed that the Putin regime was bad. But of course I had no idea it would be on such a catastrophic scale."
According to the New York Times, the Kremlin did not respond to a request for comment, but the Tinkoff Bank refuted Tinkoff's description, saying that "there were no threats of any kind against the bank's leadership."
Tinkoff Bank confirmed to the New York Times that Tinkoff had sold all of its shares to a company run by Vladimir Potanin, a mining magnate close to Putin.
"Oleg has not been in Moscow for many years, has not participated in the life of the company, and was not involved in any matters," Tinkoff Bank said in a statement.
Tinkoff gave a different view to the New York Times.
"They said: 'Your shareholder's statement is unwelcome, if he does not sell the bank, if the ownership does not change, and if you do not change the name, we will nationalize your bank,'" Tinkoff said, citing Tinkoff sources he did not want identified.
Tinkoff did not reveal how much he paid for his 35% stake in Tinkoff Bank, but admitted that he sold it for 3% of what he believed to be the true value of the shares.
The New York Times suggested that Tinkoff Bank was valued at over $20 billion on the London Stock Exchange last year, before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Tinkoff's share price was 79.44 on February 10, but has now plummeted to just 3.19. Tinkoff was sanctioned by the British government, but Tinkoff Bank, which operates primarily online, continues to operate in Russia.
"Because of my declaration they made me sell them, one kopeck is one hundredth of a ruble.
"As long as Putin lives, nothing will change," Tinkov added. [I do not believe in the future of Russia. Most importantly, I am not prepared to associate my brand and name with a country that attacks its neighbors for no reason."
Tinkoff denied that he was speaking to get sanctions against him in the UK lifted, but said he hoped the British government would eventually "right this wrong."
Tinkoff claimed that many in the Russian elite were "shocked" about the war and offered him their support.
"They understand that they are tied to the West and part of the global market," Tinkoff said. 'They are becoming, rapidly, Iranianized. But they don't like it. They want their children to spend their summer vacation in Sardinia."
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