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“Offshores are the main tool for Russian businessmen to protect their assets from state authorities, rivals and all kinds of raiders,” Valery Tutykhin, an attorney with John Tiner & Partners, a Geneva-based law firm that specializes in wealth management, said in a phone interview.

All of Russia’s 20 richest people — who have a combined net worth of more than US$227-billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index — control a portion of their fortune through holding companies registered outside of their home country.

The billionaires, most of whom built their fortunes during the violent and unpredictable post-communist economic environment, use the entities to manage, preserve and conceal their wealth — a tactic that has drawn the ire of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Vekselberg, Deripaska

Viktor Vekselberg, 56, holds the majority of his US$14.8-billion fortune through Bahamas-based Renova Holdings. Among the company’s assets is a 7% stake in United Co. Rusal, the world’s largest aluminum producer.

Vladimir Lisin, 56, controls his 85% stake in publicly traded OAO Novolipetsk Steel, Russia’s most valuable steelmaker, through a Cyprus-based holding company, Fletcher Group Holdings Ltd. Mikhail Fridman, 49, controls his banking, retail and telecommunications assets through Moscow-based Alfa Group, which is owned by Gibraltar-based CTF Holdings.

Putin has vowed to bring some of the money home. Last year, he took control of the Federal Financial Monitoring Service, an executive body aimed at combating money laundering. The State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, introduced a series of amendments to existing laws, tightening control over companies’ financial transactions.