Bloomberg: Russian billionaires are returning assets to their homeland

As Bloomberg writes, Russian billionaires find it increasingly difficult to keep money in the West using “proven schemes”, since Cyprus and Switzerland have stopped providing management services for family trusts, the founders or beneficiaries of which are Russian citizens.

While some businessmen are still looking for ways to keep family assets in the West, others are looking to move them to friendly countries like the United Arab Emirates.

However, according to the agency, most of the sanctioned billionaires decided to transfer their funds to Russia without fear of confiscation.

One of the billionaires, in a conversation with Bloomberg, said that his family is trying to build a new life in Russia. Two other Russian businessmen, who asked to remain anonymous, said they can now only do business in their homeland and try “not to think about possible asset confiscation.”

“People act based on their current capabilities and limitations,” said Alexey Stankevich, a strategic consultant to wealthy Russians. “The degree of unpredictability has increased exponentially.”

According to lawyer Daria Nevskaya, Russian billionaires do not have a general tendency when it comes to transferring inheritances:

“Each case is unique and depends on where people plan to live in the future and where their main assets are located.”

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index includes 26 Russian billionaires, whose total wealth is about $350 billion.

At the same time, the average age of the participants on the list is 63 years old and, as the agency writes, “how and where they decide to transfer their wealth will affect the economy and all business sectors” of the country in the coming decades.