Ex-partner of Putin's banker called the way Putin and his inner circle rule 'ruthless': 'They all hate each other'

• The ex-partner of a Russian oligarch said the way Putin and his inner circle rule is "ruthless."
• Alexandra Tolstoy was together with Sergei Pugachev for eight years during which she got a front-row look at Putin's reign.

The ex-partner of Russian oligarch Sergei Pugachev — also known as Russian President Vladimir Putin's former banker — called the way Putin and his inner-circle rule "ruthless."

"Putin, like any dictator, he rules through dividing rules," Alexandra Tolstoy told CNN's Erin Burnett Thursday.

"They all hate each other. They're very competitive. They don't trust each other," she said of Putin and his inner circle made up of Russian oligarchs.

She continued: "And it's ruthless."

Pugachev, who founded international bank Mezhoprombank in 1992, was once known as "the Kremlin's banker." He told Time Magazine that he used to speak to Putin "almost every day probably."

But the two have since had a falling out, and Pugachev no longer remains one of Putin's top aides. He was accused of embezzling funds from from Mezhoprombank, and later was subject to a "freezing order" over his assets after the Kremlin pushed a campaign through London's High Court, The Times reported.

Pugachev fled to London in 2011 and later moved to France – without informing Tolstoy – in the wake of "physical threats" from the Kremlin and fears and that the UK government and Russia were preparing to extradite him, according to The Times.

Tolstoy was with Pugachev for eight years and the pair share three children. In the CNN interview, Tolstoy described their world as having "crazy, insane wealth" and "a complete lack of normal, human morals."

The couple's relationship is a subject of a BBC documentary called "The Countess and the Russian Billionaire," which is now streaming on Netflix in the UK.

Oligarchs amassed immense wealth as well as political influence in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

After Putin came to power in 1999, he vowed to crack down on government corruption and some oligarchs were exiled, but a new generation of oligarchs progressed through the system.

Because of their influence over the Kremlin, oligarchs have been targeted by Western sanctions since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.

The sanctions are aimed at hobbling its economy and putting pressure on President Vladimir Putin to call off the war, and have frozen oligarchs' assets, limited their travel, and led to the seizure of some superyachts and private jets, the most high-profile displays of their wealth.

Pugachev himself has not been sanctioned.