Russian Tycoon Criticized Putin’s War. Retribution Was Swift.

Oleg Y. Tinkov was worth more than $9 billion in November, renowned as one of Russia’s few self-made business tycoons after building his fortune outside the energy and minerals industries that were the playgrounds of Russian kleptocracy.

Then, last month, Mr. Tinkov, the founder of one of Russia’s biggest banks, criticized the war in Ukraine in a post on Instagram. The next day, he said, President Vladimir V. Putin’s administration contacted his executives and threatened to nationalize his bank if it did not cut ties with him. Last week, he sold his 35 percent stake to a Russian mining billionaire in what he describes as a “desperate sale, a fire sale” that was forced on him by the Kremlin.

“It was like a hostage — you take what you are offered. I couldn’t negotiate,” Mr. Tinkov said.

Mr. Tinkov, 54, spoke to The New York Times by phone on Sunday in his first interview since Mr. Putin invaded Ukraine. Read more

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