The biggest winners from the dividend payouts were commodities exporters, Bloomberg reported.
Russia’s wartime economy has not only made some poor people better off — some of Russia’s oligarchs are getting richer, too.
At least 12 businesspeople received more than 1 trillion rubles, or $11.4 billion, in dividends for all of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, according to Bloomberg on Tuesday. The outlet based its calculations on publicly disclosed information.
Many of the tycoons who received the dividend windfall are closely tied to Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the news outlet. Some of them have been sanctioned by the West.
The biggest winners from the dividend payouts were commodities exporters that have benefited from Russia’s pivot of its trade eastward toward China, India, and other countries in the global south.