Kremlin earnings list gives glimpse into officials’ wealth

Moscow: The Kremlin’s annual list of Russian officials’ earnings has provided an outline of the richest names in government.

Anomalous results include a senator whose income is 230 times higher than the previous year and government heavyweights whose earnings are eclipsed by those of their wives.

While speculation is rife about the personal fortune of Russian President Vladimir Putin, his officially declared income is relatively modest – in 2017, he earned 18.7 million roubles (RM1.1mil).

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev – who is rumoured to command a luxury property empire – declared an income of just 8.56 million roubles (RM541,320).

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earned 14.3 million rubles (RM904,000) in 2017 but is married to Tatiana Navka, an Olympic ice dancing champion who heads two enterprises that have benefited from state contracts, according to the Russian Interfax news agency.

Navka had an income of 200 million rubles (RM12mil) last year, up 66% from 2016.

In an angry editorial entitled “Who wants to be a millionaire?” for the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper, managing editor Alexei Polukhin slammed the “phenomenal” increase in officials’ earnings.

“In a public role, you can see your income increase hundreds of times over,” he wrote, citing the example of deputy prime minister Alexander Khloponin, who earned 2.9 billion rubles (RM183bil) in 2017, or 293 times his income from 2016.