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Entrepreneur Oleg Tinkov has renounced his Russian citizenship, saying he does not want to be associated with “fascism” or people who collaborate with “killers”.
The 54-year-old founder of Tinkoff Bank wrote in an Instagram post on Tuesday: “I decided to renounce my Russian citizenship after Russia’s invasion of independent Ukraine. I am against this war, and the killing of peaceful people.”
He said in the post that he was “reiterating” his decision after his original post had “mysteriously disappeared”.
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Sota Vision, an independent Russian news outlet, tweeted an image of Mr Tinkov’s certificate showing his Russian citizenship terminated, as well as his original Instagram post in which he attacked Russian President Vladimir Putin’s leadership.
“Looks like Putin’s trolls somehow got to Insta, my post disappeared,” Mr Tinkov said in his new post.
“I’m against this war, and killing of civilians.”
He also said he was suing to force the bank to stop using his name.
“My name should not be associated with fascism,” he said. “I hate when my brand/name is associated with the bank that collaborates with killers and blood.”
The bank said it had full legal rights to the use of the Tinkoff brand, the TASS news agency reported.
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Mr Tinkov, whose upstart digital credit card company TCS Group Holding grew to become one of Russia’s largest financial institutions, is one of several Russian oligarchs with close ties to Mr Putin sanctioned by the UK government in March.
The banker, who is reported to be living in London, is said to have had his jets seized after they were deregistered by the Isle of Man.
In the months following, he has been an outspoken critic of the war and President Putin.
In April, he wrote in a post on his Instagram account that “90% of Russians are against” the “crazy” war, calling its supporters “morons”.
He was forced to sell his 35% stake in TCS, Tinkoff Bank’s parent, to Russian metals magnate Vladimir Potanin, following a string of anti-war comments.
The tycoon, who has likened himself to British billionaire Richard Branson and was worth almost $10bn at his peak, launched electronics, frozen food and beer brands before setting up Tinkoff Bank in the mid-2000s.
He says he now has no business interests in Russia.
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In October, Israeli-Russian billionaire Yuri Milner said he had renounced his Russian citizenship.
“My family and I left Russia for good in 2014, after the Russian annexation of Crimea,” the founder of internet investment firm DST Global said in a tweet.
“And this summer, we officially completed the process of renouncing our Russian citizenship.”
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