Putin's hockey pal and Russia's richest man Vladimir Potanin has been 'snapping up banks for cheap' amid an exodus of Western owners

The richest man in Russia bought domestic banks at a discount rate after their Western owners left the country, reports say.

The Russian economy has been in freefall since the invasion of Ukraine, after Western powers imposed sanctions against a number of President Vladimir Putin's closest allies.

Vladimir Potanin, a long-time Putin ally, has largely avoided Western sanctions despite his close personal ties to the regime. Potanin, who has played ice hockey with Putin in the past, has largely remained off the West's radar due to his importance to global metals markets.

The Financial Times reported on Thursday that Potanin, who is said to be worth $30 billion, had been using his wealth to acquire stakes in major Russian banks, which have seen their value dwindle after Western stakeholders abandoned the country.

The Interros group bought the business from Potan, according to reports. Insider previously reported banks in Russia were about to lose a lot of money.

Potanin paid only 3% of the actual stakes worth, which was complained about by Tinkov, who said he was forced to sell his stakes after he criticized the war.

The Kremlin had a problematic asset in Tinkoff and Potanin had a solution, according to the founder of R.Politik.

Potanin is a key individual in the banking sector. In February, the combined assets of the two main assets of the company were almost $45 billion.

The person who was involved in the negotiations for SocGen said they wanted to find a way to exit in the most orderly way while preserving their 12,000 staff.

Potanin says he wants to preserve the bank and its culture, which is why they decided to accept his offer, per the report.

Potanin founded Interros in 1990 and is the richest man in Russia. He is mostly known for mastering the loans-for-shares programs, which have made many other people rich.

Wealthy entrepreneurs and banks gave money to the Russian government in the 1990s in exchange for equity in the country's natural resource companies. Many of the natural resource companies are in the hands of wealthy individuals because the government couldn't repay the loans.