Oleg Tinkov gives up Russian citizenship in response to war against Ukraine

Former Tinkoff-Saxo team owner Oleg Tinkov has given up his Russian citizenship in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

In a now-removed Instagram post which included a photo of the document confirming the end of his citizenship, Tinkov said that he couldn't "be associated with a fascist country that started a war with their peaceful neighbour and killing innocent people daily."

Tinkov has been outspoken against the war since the early stages of the invasion back in the spring. Back then, he told the New York Times that he had been forced to sell his 35% stake of Tinkoff Bank for a fraction of its true value, claiming that the Kremlin had threatened to nationalise the bank otherwise.

In an Instagram post made on Tuesday, Tinkoff said that his earlier post had "disappeared" before reaffirming that he had ended his citizenship.

"My post from yesterday has been mysteriously disappeared. Must be Kremlin's trolls…" Tinkov wrote.

"I have decided to throw out Russian citizenship after Russia invades Ukraine and start killing innocents there. I can't be associated with Putin's fascist regime."

Tinkov also said that he had instructed lawyers to begin the process of removing his name from Tinkoff bank.

"Moreover, I am engaging lawyers to start revoking Tinkoff brand from the bank," he wrote. "I hate when my brand/name is associated with the bank that collaborates with killers and blood. Tinkoff Bank must change the name, as Oliver Hughes and Stanislav Bliznuyk were telling me and the public, after they 'agreed this with Kremlin government' and kick me out of the bank in March. What changed?

"You managed to take over and you're running it now (crappy, by the way) but that's good – less money will go to Putin and the war," he added, writing in Russian. "You have a new boss [Vladimir Potanin], who you manipulate there, so change it to Potanin bank… and my name should not be associated with fascism."

In April, Tinkov sold his stake in Tinkoff Bank to Potanin, reportedly Russia's richest man, the country's deputy prime minister in the 1990s and co-founder of mining company Norilsk Nickel. The online bank was founded by Tinkov in 2006 and grew to be the largest digital bank in the world at one point.

Tinkov, who has been a rare member of Russia's super-rich and oligarch class to speak out against the war, stepped down as chairman of the bank in 2020 after he was diagnosed with leukemia.

He is reportedly living in London, but is subject to sanctions handed down by the British state banning any aircraft of ships owned, controlled, chartered, or operated by him from entering a port or landing in the UK.