Timchenko's readiness to sell assets to state not linked to sanctions
“Timchenko repeatedly said state interests were above personal ambitions for him, and wealth accumulation and building private capital were not among his priorities,” his spokesperson said
MOSCOW, August 05. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian business tycoon Gennady Timchenko readiness to sell Volga Group assets to the state is not connected to sanctions, press-secretary Anton Kurevin said on Tuesday.
“Timchenko repeatedly said state interests were above personal ambitions for him, and wealth accumulation and building private capital were not among his priorities,” he said. “While choosing business projects, he is guided by social factors and importance for the national economic development. Mr. Timchenko has always invested in development, not short-term speculations.”
This mindset formed long ago, and Timchenko’s recent statements were not linked to inclusion of the businessman and his assets on the U.S. sanctions lists, Kurevin said on Facebook.
No concrete mechanisms were considered to realize the initiatives that Timchenko announced, he added.
“Mr. Timchenko remains an active player on the international business field. He is actively involved in a number of major business projects and he is keen to see their successful realization,” Kurevin said.
Earlier in an interview to Itar-Tass he said he was ready to give all assets to the state: “If you take me personally, I can tell you clearly and definitively that I’ll turn in everything to the state any time if this is needed. If only that were of real help. My wife and I have discussed this issue many a time. Neither she nor I need these billions.”
Meanwhile, he seemed skeptical about the charity campaign launched by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, The Giving Pledgе. The billionaires pledged to give no less than half of their fortunes for charity purposes in the future.
“One thing I’ll agree with Potanin [one of Russian participants of Giving Pledge] in that there’s no sense in leaving over too much to one’s children. We must give proper upbringing and quality education to children but the rest is up to them. This is how it was in our family. And all this talk that someone will give something to someone else sometime… well, I see an element of a game and craftiness,” he said.