Putin to join the winemaking industry? President mulls over ‘giving it a try some day’

ZAVIDOVO /Tver region/, January 25. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has revealed that he could work as a legal expert for the winemaking industry when he finishes his career as the head of state. During an online conversation with students, the President confessed that winemaking interests him as an activity. When commenting on a recent film about a ‘palace’ that he allegedly owns on the Black Sea coast, Putin said that he had paid particular attention to an episode related to the winemaking business. "Out of everything there that I saw [in that film], the only thing that grabbed my attention was winemaking, not as a business profile but as a kind of activity. It is a good, noble occupation. One of my good friends runs a small enterprise together with his business partner," Putin said. He noted that in recent years winemaking has been actively developing in Russia. "I would give it a try some day, not as a business but as an occupation. I have an adviser, Boris Titov, who is the owner of Abrau Durso [a wine group - TASS] <…> Maybe, when I finish [as the President], I will come to work for him as an adviser, not as a businessman but as a legal expert. We have just adopted the law so now I am beginning to learn what it is all about," the Russian leader mused. In turn, Titov told TASS that he would be happy to have the President as an adviser. "I think there is no entrepreneur in the world, who would refuse such an offer. Moreover, I can say that in the field of law, Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin] knows the wine industry very well, since he signed the law on winemaking, which today is fully operational and changes the structure of winemaking in Russia," Titov elaborated. "But business as such has never interested me. Not because it is bad, on the contrary, I find it to be a noble occupation, if we consider the social part of it - like creating jobs and economic development. But I don’t quite belong there," Putin confessed. He assured that he had never been involved in any business. However, the head of state recalled that some of his colleges are famous businessmen, for example former US President Donald Trump and ex-President of Ukraine Pyotr Poroshenko. Putin pointed out that Poroshenko remained in business even when he was holding the reigns of power, by opening offshore companies and offshore accounts. Read more