March 27, 2026

At least 10 billionaires were present at the RSPP this year

At a closed meeting between Vladimir Putin and the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), almost all major oligarchs were likely present. However, at least three businessmen may have skipped the event, 'Novaya-Evropa' found by comparing information from open sources. The content of closed meetings with Putin is usually not disclosed, and the list of participants has been classified since 2022. The Bell, citing sources, wrote that Oleg Deripaska and Suleiman Kerimov were among those present – they agreed to allocate funding for the war in Ukraine. 'Novaya-Evropa' compared broadcast footage and found that at least 10 billionaires (besides Deripaska and Kerimov) attended the open part of the meeting: Mikhail Gutseriev, Viktor Vekselberg, Alexey Mordashov, Dmitry Mazepin, Vladimir Potanin, Andrey Bokarev, Andrey Melnichenko, and Igor Zyuzin. In addition, heads of state-owned companies Mikhail Oseevsky (Rostelecom) and Andrey Kostin (VTB) were in the hall. At the same time, other major business representatives were not noticed at the event. For example, 'Novaya-Evropa' found no information that German Khan, Leonid Mikhelson, and Dmitry Pumpyansky were at the RSPP this year. According to the head of the RSPP, Alexander Shokhin, the closed meeting lasted two hours. Later, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov confirmed that one of the participants indeed intended to allocate money, but did not name him. RSPP meetings are held annually. As the Financial Times notes, Putin directly addressed business participants for the first time with a request to allocate money for waging war.