“You know, first, we no longer have oligarchs,” the Kremlin press service quoted him as saying.
According to the Russian leader, the oligarchs are those who use their proximity to the government to get super-profits.
Putin noted that in Russia there are large private companies, there are - with state participation.
“But I don’t already know such large companies that use any preferences from proximity to the authorities, we practically don’t have such preferences,” the head of state said.
Earlier, Putin announced a gradual recovery of Russian income.