Elite Children Profit from War

After the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian central bank raised its key rate to a record 20% to stop a run on the ruble and to slow price growth. The measures created major financial opportunities for ultra-wealthy Russians, including the children of top government officials.

Independent media outlet Verstka has reported that from 2021 through the end of 2024, the total value of deposits held in the bank accounts of the children of the ultra-wealthy has more than doubled, while total interest payouts rose more than sixfold, up 578%.

Before the invasion, according to Verstka, 153 children of officials held bank deposits exceeding R1 million (nearly $13,000). In 2022, after the unprecedented rate hike, the number rose to 177. In 2024, as inflation rose, the Central Bank raised its base borrowing rate to a record 21%. The number of officials’ children with bank deposits increased to 247. Ten placed more than R1 billion ($13 million) each in deposits. By the end of 2024, they had placed nearly R38.9 billion ($504 million) in total across their accounts.

Verstka estimated that, over three years of war, the higher key rate has enriched the children of Russia’s top officials by about R10 billion (about $130 million).

Among the top 100 deposit earners were 40 children of State Duma deputies, 34 children of senators, 10 children of senior presidential administration officials, eight children of the prime minister and deputy prime ministers, four children of federal ministers, three children of the heads of the FSB, SVR, and Rosgardiya, and the daughter of Constitutional Court Chairman Valery Zorkin.

The biggest earner from deposits since the start of the war was 36-year-old Nikolai Tkachev, the son of State Duma lawmaker Alexei Tkachev and the nephew of former agriculture minister Alexander Tkachev. From 2022 to 2024, he earned interest from deposits at several banks totaling just over R1 billion ($13 million).

According to leaks, Tkachev worked in the Krasnodar regional administration in the early 2010s, when his uncle led it. He later joined the family business. Several companies were registered in his name as part of the Tkachev Agrocomplex, one of the country’s largest agricultural holdings.

Second in deposit income was the son of Sergei Ivanov, the former presidential special representative for environmental protection, ecology, and transport. Over three years of war, he earned nearly R773 million ($10 million) from deposits.

Verstka reported that Ivanov’s son is 45. He spent his career in senior positions at state-owned companies. At 23, he became an assistant to the chairman of Gazprombank. He later worked at Rosselkhozbank and Sberbank, and led diamond producer Alrosa from 2017 to 2023.

Third in the ranking was the son of Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko. Over three years, bank deposits netted 52-year-old Sergei Matviyenko R712 million ($9.2 million). Verstka reported that Matviyenko has in recent years lived in Italy, about 170 kilometers from Venice. He owns a villa with a 26-hectare plot.

Fourth in the ranking was 34-year-old Pavel Yakushev. The son of Federation Council senator and former Tyumen Oblast governor Vladimir Yakushev, he earned more than R706 million ($9 million) over three years.

Fifth was Varvara Manturova, the daughter of State Duma deputy Andrei Skoch and the daughter-in-law of Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov. She opened bank deposits only in 2023 and earned more than R585 million ($7.6 million) from them over two years.

Manturova is 23 and holds both Russian and Cypriot citizenship. After she turned 18 in 2020, 15% of Alisher Usmanov’s USM holding, which manages assets in metallurgy, mining, and telecommunications, was transferred to her. That made her one of Russia’s richest women. Forbes previously valued her stake at $2.5 billion.