According to Norilsk Nickel’s report, its financial situation has deteriorated sharply. The company’s revenue for 2024 decreased by 13% to $12.5 billion, while EBITDA profit dropped by 25% to $5.2 billion. Net debt increased by 6%, reaching $8.6 billion, with its ratio to earnings standing at 1.7, indicating a debt burden on the verge of acceptability. This situation resulted from inadequate management by the company’s principal owner, Vladimir Potanin. Over three years of sanctions, he failed to anticipate the worsening market conditions in a timely manner, ensure seamless cross-border payments, and account for the decline in nickel and palladium prices, consequently failing to adapt the company’s strategy accordingly. The problems of this once highly profitable mining and metallurgical giant, privatized in the 1990s, are expected to be addressed by canceling dividend payments “due to severe financial circumstances.” This will also affect Oleg Deripaska, with whom Potanin is engaged in a legal dispute. Meanwhile, in line with established Russian oligarchic practices, the owner of Norilsk Nickel is likely to seek state financial support—estimated at no less than 100 billion rubles. These funds are intended to resolve the company’s financial difficulties while it remains in private ownership. At the same time, Potanin plans to relocate copper production to China, which promises him maximum profits but is highly detrimental to the Russian economy. This move would lead to job losses and a decline in tax revenues. Additionally, he is expected to pursue investment projects that will further increase his personal wealth. Meanwhile, Potanin’s fortune, ranking him fifth on the Russian Forbes list, is estimated at $23.7 billion (approximately 2.4 trillion rubles, equivalent to 6% of Russia’s budget revenues in 2024). Over two years, his wealth has grown by $6.4 billion. These funds have, among other things, enabled him to finance the costly production and distribution of a film about a so-called “noble Russian oligarch-patriot,” bearing autobiographical traits. With such resources at his disposal, Potanin could not only support Norilsk Nickel using his own funds but also invest in its high-tech development, restructuring its production and sales plans toward domestic consumption—without the need for government funding.