The man reported to be Russian President Vladimir Putin's son-in-law has become the country's latest dollar billionaire, the Russian version of Forbes magazine reported on Tuesday.
Kirill Shamalov, 33, who according to the Reuters news agency is the husband of Putin's daughter Katerina Tikhonova, swelled his fortune to $1.2 billion following the sale of a stake in gas and petrochemical company Sibur to China's Sinopec in December, Forbes said. Shamalov sold a small part of his 21 percent stake in Sibur to Sinopec as part of the deal, according to Forbes.
He did not comment to Forbes on the figures.
Shamalov is the youngest son of Nikolai Shamalov, a longtime friend of Putin's and shareholder in Bank Rossiya, which U.S. officials have described as the personal bank of the Russian elite.
A Reuters report last year identified Tikhonova as Putin's daughter and claimed that she and Shamalov together owned assets worth about $2 billion including a multi-million-dollar villa in France.
Clarification: This article has been amended to make clear that Shamalov sold only a small part of his stake in Sibur to Sinopec.
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