Several of Russia's wealthiest businessmen have withdrawn tens of billions of dollars from the country in the past year amid growing concerns about the state of the country's economy and state budget.
Modern.az reports that "Bloomberg" wrote about this, citing informed sources.
According to the information, among these businessmen are individuals close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. They also fear that their assets could be confiscated, as happened to Dmitry Kamenshchik, the former owner of Domodedovo Airport.
In addition, business representatives are concerned that the state will increase pressure on them to finance the war. Bloomberg recalls that at a meeting with Putin in March, Russia's largest businessmen were offered to allocate funds for the war. The Kremlin, however, stated that no money was requested from businessmen, and that they themselves came up with such an initiative.
According to informed sources of the publication, Russia's wealthiest businessmen have reviewed their investment portfolios in the past year, increasing investments in cryptocurrency, gold, and real estate abroad.
Bloomberg notes that it is difficult to determine the exact volume of unofficial capital outflow from the country, especially funds withdrawn through cryptocurrency transactions.
However, according to two sources familiar with the investment decisions of several of the wealthiest Russian businessmen, it is tens of billions of dollars. They stated that the capital outflow has increased compared to the previous year.
The publication writes that Russian businessmen trying to move their assets beyond the Kremlin's control are also forced to take into account the Western sanctions imposed on Russia for the war against Ukraine.
In this context, Bloomberg cites businessman Ilan Shor, who fled Moldova, and the company "A7", owned by Russia's state-owned PSB bank (formerly Promsvyazbank), as examples.
The company "A7" carries out cross-border payments using the ruble-pegged A7A5 cryptocurrency.
According to PSB bank, the volume of transactions carried out through "A7" in the first half of 2025 exceeded 7.5 trillion rubles. This amount is approximately equal to 98 billion dollars.
