Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he and almost everyone working for him would take a 10% pay cut because of mounting economic sanctions imposed on his country.

Whether Putin and his staff will actually feel the slash in their salaries is debatable, considering Putin says he is unaware of the amount printed on his paychecks. "Frankly, I don't even know my own salary; they just give it to me, and I put it away in my account," he reportedly said to a group of reporters during his annual Q&A session in December.

Putin's official salary is chump change compared with that of a prime minister of an island nation smaller than New York City.

Singapore's Lee Hsien Loong earns 12 1/2 times as much as Putin at a whooping $1.7 million. Loong's salary is large enough to pay for the combined salaries of the leaders of India, Brazil, Italy, Russia, France, Turkey, Japan, United Kingdom, South Africa, and Germany.

Loong's Singapore is also the world's most expensive city for a second year in a row, according to The Economist's bi-annual Worldwide Cost of Living report.

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