An Instagram post cost this Russian banking tycoon $9 billion and his citizenship

Former Russian banking tycoon Oleg Tinkov opens up about an Instagram post that made him give away his citizenship (Image source: @olegtinkov/Instagram)

A former Russian banking tycoon has claimed that a single Instagram post opposing the Ukraine war cost him almost his entire fortune, forcing him to sell his stake in Tinkoff Bank at a steep discount and wiping out nearly $9 billion in wealth.

Speaking to the BBC, Oleg Tinkov said his public condemnation of the invasion in April 2022 triggered swift retaliation from the Kremlin, Russia. In the post, Tinkov described the war as “insane” and accused the Russian military of being corrupt and ill-prepared. He also claimed that “90 per cent” of Russians were against the invasion, dismissing the remaining supporters as “morons.”

At the time, Tinkov was widely regarded as one of Russia’s most successful bankers. But he said that within a day of his Instagram post, senior executives at his bank received a call from officials linked to the Kremlin, delivering a stark ultimatum: either Tinkov’s stake would be sold and his name removed from the brand, or the bank would be nationalised.

“What followed was not a negotiation,” Tinkov told the BBC. He said he was given no freedom to bargain over the value of his roughly 35 per cent stake in TCS Group, Tinkoff Bank’s parent company. “I couldn’t negotiate the price. I was like a hostage,” he said.

Within a week, a company connected to metals billionaire Vladimir Potanin stepped in to buy Tinkov’s shares. Potanin is one of Russia’s richest men and a key supplier of nickel used in military production. According to Tinkov, the deal valued his holding at just 3 per cent of its real market worth, effectively erasing nearly $9 billion he had built up over decades.

Following the sale, Tinkov left Russia and later gave up his citizenship. He also alleged that efforts were made to strip his name from the bank’s branding and erase his role in building the institution.

Tinkov said his experience illustrates how quickly and harshly the Kremlin enforces loyalty among Russia’s elite, drawing parallels with figures such as Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former oil tycoon who spent a decade in prison after defying state power.

Now living in exile, Tinkov has gradually returned to public life in 2025 and has emerged as a backer of Plata, a Mexican fintech venture founded by former Tinkoff Bank executives.