Opposition leader Alexei Navalny earned about 9.3 million rubles ($297,000) in 2012, mostly from his law practice, or 60 percent more than President Vladimir Putin, according to a personal income declaration that Navalny voluntarily posted on his popular blog on Tuesday.
Navalny reported earning 7.5 million rubles from legal work, 1.1 million rubles in dividends and salary, and 705,000 rubles from the sale of a motor vehicle. Putin declared income of 5.8 million rubles for the same period, according to a document published by the Kremlin on Friday.
As an official, Putin is required by law to declare his income, whereas Navalny said he was releasing information about his income to fulfill a promise he made to a journalist late last year.
The document also indicated that Navalny's Rospil project, which exposes corrupt government tenders, took in 8.5 million in private donations last year. "Formally, you gift me the money … and I immediately transfer it to Rospil's account," he wrote.
On Wednesday, Navalny will go on trial for allegedly masterminding the theft of millions of rubles worth of timber from a state company. He has denied the accusation and denounced the case as politically motivated.
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