Oleg Tinkov, one of the most successful entrepreneurs in post-Soviet Russia, has renounced his citizenship over his aversion to the war in Ukraine.
Tinkov, who resides in London, posted a photo on his Instagram page on October 30 of what appears to be an official document renouncing his Russian citizenship.
“I have taken the decision to exit my Russian citizenship,” Tinkov said in the Instagram post. “I can’t and won’t be associated with a fascist country that started a war with their peaceful neighbor and [is] killing innocent people daily.”
Tinkov, 54, jumped at the chance to start his own business following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, launching the household appliance retail chain Technoshock and later food producer Daria.
He used the profit from those businesses to launch the brewery Tinkoff, which he later sold to beer giant Inbev for $200 million. He then founded Tinkoff Bank, an online financial lender that listed its shares on the London Stock Exchange and turned him into a billionaire.
Tinkov, who has been undergoing treatment for leukemia in the U.K., was among the only high-profile Russian tycoons to come out against the war, calling it “crazy” in an April Instagram post.
Russia has cracked down on any criticism of the war and, later that month, Tinkov sold his bank to Kremlin-friendly billionaire Vladimir Potanin.
Tinkov said in his October 30 post that he hoped other prominent Russian businessmen will follow him “so it weakens Putin’s regime and his economy and puts him eventually to defeat.”
However, Russian tycoons run the risk of arrest and losing their domestic businesses if they criticize the war.
That is not the case, though, for Russian tycoons living outside the country and who make their money from businesses registered abroad.
SEE ALSO: Billionaire Revolut Chief Storonsky Reportedly Renounces Russian CitizenshipNikolai Storonsky, the billionaire head of the London-based financial technology firm Revolut, has allegedly renounced his Russian citizenship as well, it was reported on October 30.
Storonsky, 38, is the son of Nikolai Storonsky, a senior official at Kremlin-controlled energy giant Gazprom, who was born in Ukraine.
Storonsky, who also holds a U.K. passport, has been a critic of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, saying it was "not just horrifying, it is almost impossible to believe."
"I would like to make clear, publicly, what I’ve felt privately from day one: War is never the answer," he wrote in a blog post at the start of March, only a few days after Russia initiated the conflict.
"This war is wrong and totally abhorrent. I am horrified and appalled at its impact, and I add my voice to those around the world calling for an immediate end to the fighting, and a commitment to diplomatic solutions. Not one more person should die in this needless conflict," he added.
Despite originally being from Ukraine, Storonsky's father was sanctioned by the Ukrainian government earlier this month over his position as director-general at Gazprom Promgaz -- the research arm of Russia’s state-owned gas company.
Storonsky is a co-founder and chief executive officer of Revolut, which designs application software for money transfers and related financial services. Bloomberg estimates his worth at $6.7 billion.