The assets and salary of Volodymyr Zelensky, the former actor and current president of Ukraine who has become the symbol of his country’s resistance to the invasion of Russia.
How much does Volodymyr Zelensky earn? This is a question that many will have asked themselves now that the president of Ukraine has become one of the most famous and influential political leaders in the world.
In recent months, the tenant of the Mariyinsky Palace has been the subject of investigation several times but with often discrepant results, between rumors of him being a billionaire and instead more contained estimates.
Volodymr Zelensky’s net worth is also increased by his past as actor, though still very far from the figures of his great enemy Vladimir Putin and his exorbitant assets.
So let’s see how much salary Zelensky received as president of Ukraine, what’s in his last available tax return and what his net worth would be.
Zelensky: salary and tax return
According to Ukrainian law, the president’s mandate lasts 5 years with a maximum of 2 renewals. From what we know, however, the salary as a politician, in a country like Ukraine, is not at all comparable to the income we are used to associating with our ruling class.
Since the last tax return for 2019, the revenues of the Head of State and his family members amounted to approximately $950.000. These figures also weighed well over $120.000 in taxes, all regularly paid from what emerged from the investigations carried out at the time on the Zelensky family.
Also in the same report it was indicated that, since May 2019, Zelensky was no longer engaged in direct entrepreneurial activities and that, therefore, he would have counted on the salary of the Department of State Affairs as the main source of livelihood.
The only extra income recorded is the sale of an apartment in the city of Kiev which belonged to his wife Olena Zelenska. The proceeds from the real estate transaction would have been around $165.000.
Per year, President Zelensky would therefore receive $11.638. By comparison, we can say that a member of parliament from his country earns around $7680 a year.
However, we must underline that these values are naturally related to the cost of living in the Eastern European country which, as an approximation, has an average monthly salary of around 187 dollars.
Zelensky’s net worth
On a monetary level, one could almost say that Zelensky was much more fortunate as a comedian than as a politician. In 2017 he had in fact declared 7 million grivne (roughly $190.000) while his wife reached 800 thousand (roughly $20.000).
However, the perception of an economic downsizing had collapsed in the face of the Pandora Papers scandal.
This term refers to the largest investigation in the history of investigative journalism on the financial front. In fact, starting from 3 October 2021, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has published millions of documents capable of revealing the reality of the bank accounts of the richest and most influential people in the world.
Among these at the time there also seemed to be the Ukrainian leader but, following the investigations conducted by Forbes, the fact seems to have been denied.
Unlike his predecessor Petro Poroshenko, Zelensky was never a billionaire and his net worth according to Forbes would be around $20 million.
Russian propaganda instead attributed to him up to five luxury yachts and three private jets as well as $66 million in shares in companies such as Saudi Aramco, Meta and Tesla. The more realistic data, on the other hand, show $434.000 in his name mainly held in the Privatbank in Latvia and a $4 million villa in Italy.
The biggest income would be his 25% stake in Kvartal 95, a group of companies that produce humorous shows including the Servant of the People series, the work that made him famous and consecrated him as the winner of national elections in 2019.
However, as Forbes themselves ironically joked, at the moment around the figure of Zelensky there are perhaps far more crucial issues than those relating to his personal accounts.
Original article published on Money.it Italy 2023-02-09 16:17:00. Original title: Quanto guadagna Zelensky? Stipendio e patrimonio del presidente ucraino
