Vladimir Putin gathered Russia's wealthiest businessmen for a closed-door meeting, directly ordering them to make "voluntary" contributions to the state budget to sustain the war against Ukraine.
As Hvylya reports, the Financial Times and The Bell shared this information, citing their own sources.
The meeting occurred immediately after a Russian Union of Industrialists congress. The dictator warned the billionaires that Russia will continue fighting and plans to reach "the borders of Donbas," since Ukraine has no intention of surrendering its territories. He then suggested the businesses share their wealth.
The idea to "shake down business during hard times for the country" belongs to Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, who proposed the scheme in a personal letter to Putin.
Some oligarchs agreed to pay up before even leaving the room. Specifically, Suleiman Kerimov promised to hand over 100 billion rubles. According to Western journalists, Oleg Deripaska also financially supported the initiative.
Russia faces severe financial problems. Military spending in 2025 has skyrocketed to 13.1 trillion rubles, while the budget deficit in just the first two months of the year exceeded 90% of the annual target. Even raising the VAT to 22% cannot salvage the situation, prompting the Kremlin to prepare yet another one-time windfall tax on large companies.