MOSCOW, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Factions in the Kremlin are fighting over assets allegedly amassed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, The Guardian reports.
Stanislav Belkovsky, a Russian political expert, estimates Putin's personal wealth at $40 million. Belkovsky first made the claim in an interview with the German newspaper Die Welt.
According to Belkovsky, Putin's holdings include 37 percent of Surgutneftegaz, an oil exploration company that has become the third biggest Russian oil producer. Belkovsky said that Putin has effective control of the state firm, worth $20 billion.
He also says that the president owns 4.5% of Gazprom and 75 percent or more of Gunvor, a Swiss-based oil trading company founded by Gennady Timchenko.
"Putin's name doesn't appear on any shareholders' register, of course," Belkovsky said. "There is a non-transparent scheme of successive ownership of offshore companies and funds."
The Kremlin feud has little to do with ideology, The Guardian reported, and more to do with how officials who have become rich under Putin can protect their fortunes. Members of a group headed by Putin's chief of staff, Igor Sechin, fear the president's putative successor, Dmitry Medvedev, because they have few ties to them.
