Interpol has launched a hunt for a powerful Kremlin insider turned critic who was once known as "Putin's banker" but more recently ran into bankruptcy and fled the country. Russian authorities accuse Sergei Pugachyov of stealing state money issued to support his now-defunct Mezhprombank during the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.
The charges come with Russia's economic fortunes on the decline and growing infighting among immensely powerful but secretive members of President Vladimir Putin's inner circle of oligarchs and security service officers. Pugachyov was once viewed as a leader of a hawkish Kremlin clan that allegedly was responsible for the arrest and jailing of former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky a decade ago.
The 51-year-old was until June also the majority owner of the French luxury food chain Hediard. But he recently left Russia for an undisclosed location and has since been one of the most vocal critics of Putin and his new band of rich confidants. Pugachyov told the Financial Times in October that "today in Russia there is no private property. There are only serfs who belong to Putin."
"Big business cannot live as before. It has to live under military rules," he added. The comments marked a sharp contrast to charges from critics that Pugachyov was one of the instigators of a nationalisation campaign launched shortly after Putin - a former spy who openly celebrates Russia's Soviet heritage - first became president in 2000. Pugachyov was thought to be behind the arrest of Khodorkovsky and the transfer of his Yakos oil company's most prized assets to the once-struggling state firm Rosneft. Interpol's official website states that Pugachyov is "wanted by the judicial authorities of Russia for prosecution". Various countries have different rules about how to proceed should they locate a person wanted by Interpol.
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