Overview
- In late 2025 interviews, Tinkov says a day after he condemned the Ukraine war on Instagram, officials linked to the Kremlin warned his bank would be nationalized unless his stake was sold and his name removed.
- He recounts being forced to accept any offer for his roughly 35% holding in TCS Group, saying he was “like a hostage” and unable to negotiate.
- According to his account, a firm tied to metals magnate Vladimir Potanin bought the shares within a week at about 3% of market value, wiping out nearly $9 billion of his wealth.
- After the sale, he left Russia, later renounced his Russian citizenship, and alleges a campaign to strip his name from the bank and erase his role in building it.
- Reporters and analysts frame his story as part of a broader pattern in which wartime controls and sanctions pressure Russia’s elite, while he has re-emerged in 2025 as a backer of Plata, a Mexican fintech led by former Tinkoff executives.