Vladimir Putin is presented in the West as one of the world’s most powerful men, and this film asks a different question: how rich is he? His official salary is modest, yet reports have linked him to palaces, yachts and a fortune built from the wealth of Russia’s oil and gas. The film follows the trail of money, companies and intermediaries that, its makers argue, connect the president to a hidden fortune far larger than anything he has ever declared.
The video looks at the people around Putin, at the deals made during the privatisation of Soviet industry, and at the companies that grew rich from state contracts. It also hears from critics and former insiders who say that wealth and power in Russia are inseparable, and that the line between public office and private gain has been blurred for decades. The story is told as an investigation, not as a settled court case, and viewers are invited to judge the evidence for themselves.
For understanding socialism’s history, the film matters because Russia’s wealth was once state property, built up under socialism and then divided up after the Soviet Union fell. Putin’s rise came from that upheaval. Whether he is a guardian of the state or a beneficiary of its plunder is a question that shapes any judgement of post-Soviet Russia, and of the man who has ruled it for so long.