Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is running for president next year, earned about 17.7 million rubles ($570,000) over the last four years, with part of the income coming from 10 bank accounts where he has 5.7 million rubles, according to an income declaration released Thursday.
Other sources of Putin's income are his government salary, a military pension — which he gets as a former KGB officer — and dividends from owning a minority stake in Bank Saint Petersburg, according to the declaration, which he filed with the Central Elections Commission earlier this month.
The declaration was published in state-owned Rossiiskaya Gazeta, which is responsible for publishing official documents, in line with current legislation.
Candidates for the presidency are required by law to declare the size and sources of their income — as well as those of their family members — over the four years prior to the election.
Putin was the first among his rivals to file paperwork to the Central Elections Commission, which officially registered him as a candidate for president on Tuesday.
According to the document, in addition to his own bank accounts, Putin's wife Lyudmila has 8.4 million rubles on four accounts — the only source of her income, which totaled 146,783 rubles.
Lyudmila Putina earned most of that money last year, according to a declaration by Putin in April, which was made in line with a requirement for state officials and their families to report incomes as part of an anti-corruption measure.
Putin also gets dividends from his 230 shares of privately owned Bank Saint Petersburg.
The prime minister's income more than doubled compared with the four-year period prior to the 2004 presidential election, when he last ran for president.
From 2000 to 2004 he earned 7.8 million rubles, Vedomosti reported at the time, citing Central Elections Commission figures.
His real estate holdings have not changed since the last election. Putin has an official apartment of 153.7 square meters in Moscow and a garage of 18 square meters in St. Petersburg, both provided by the state for unlimited use. He also owns a 77-square-meter apartment and a 12-square-meter garage in St. Petersburg and a 1,500-square-meter plot of land in the Moscow region.
The prime minister reported owning three Russian-made passenger cars — two vintage Volga sedans and? a Niva — and a trailer inherited from? his father.
He didn't report owning any vehicles ahead of the 2004 election, according to Vedomosti.
While reporting incomes as required by law, government officials usually remain tight-lipped about their spending.
Meanwhile, Putin had some unexpected costs over the last four years, as he gave away two Swiss watches, which reportedly cost $10,500 each, right off his wrist in 2009. He gave one Blancpain watch to a shepherd's son during a visit to the Siberian republic of Tuva and the same model to a worker at a gun plant in Tula who asked the prime minister to give him something as a keepsake.
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