VLAD MONEY: Putin's rogues gallery of oligarchs
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The Russian invasion of Ukraine has triggered an unwelcome spotlight on the fabulously wealthy oligarchs who help make Vladimir Putin possible.
They control gas, utilities, factories and just about everything else in Russia, often with the helping hands of gangsters. Favour from the tiny totalitarian Putin means muchos rubles. For Putin, it means support for his war machine.
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Here are some of the shadowy figures.
WHO: YEVGENY PRIGOZHIN
411: Closerthanthis with Putin. A dark figure frequently sanctioned by the U.S., he is sometimes known as “Putin’s cook” because the restaurants and catering companies he owns have hosted lavish dinner parties for the elite of the Kremlin. He is also said to be the money man behind the Wagner Group, a mysterious secret army of mercenaries that Putin uses to do his bloody bidding.
WHO: DENIS BORTNIKOV
411: He is the deputy president of the state-owned VTB bank and oversees compensation for the bank’s directors. His dad, Aleksandr, is the director of the Russian spy agency, federal Security Service, and a loyal Putin ally as both were comrades in the KGB.
WHO: BORIS ROTENBERG
411: He is a childhood pal of Putin and co-owner with his brother Arkady of the SMP Bank, as well as a regular hockey and judo buddy of the aspiring czar. He is worth almost $2 billion. Vlad the Bad gave the brothers billions in contracts with Gazprom and the Sochi Olympics. Nepotism takes the field: One son was appointed head coach of KHL squad SKA Saint Petersburg (he’s never played) and another was on Dynamo Moscow soccer (dad was chairman).
WHO: IGOR ROTENBERG
411: Son of Arkady Rotenberg, he controls gas drilling giant Gazprom Bureniye. He is also chairman of National Telematic Systems and a shareholder in RT-Invest Transport System, which are strategically significant.
WHO: KIRILL SHAMALOV
411: The ex-husband of Putin’s daughter, Katerina, and Russia’s youngest billionaire, he is the son of Putin pal Rossiya Bank shareholder Nikolai Shamalov. His bank has always been sanctioned. Shamalov became vice-president of oil company Sibur when he was 26. He remains a pal of Putin and is a government advisor.
WHO: PYOTR FRADKOV
411: The chairman and CEO of Promsvyazbank, a bank that serves the defence industry and supports state defence contracts. The company is crucial to the country’s defence industry overseeing 70% of defence contracts. And — surprise, surprise — his dad is former chief of foreign intelligence.
WHO: YURY SLYUSAR
411: He is the director of United Aircraft Corporation, one of the company’s hardest hit in the global asset freeze, and formerly a top mandarin in the Kremlin.
WHO: ELENA ALEKSANDROVNA GEORGIEVA
411: She is the CEO of Novikombank, which bankrolls Rostec, Russia’s biggest defence company. The company employs more than two million and accounts for $17 billion in arms exports yearly.
WHO: GENNADY TIMCHENKO
411: A major shareholder in the Rossiya, a bank that has been sanctioned. The billionaire (he’s worth $23.5 billion) is a long-time friend and ally of Putin. He is considered one of the most powerful people in Russia with interests in gas, petrochemicals, media (let’s invade) and Russia’s pro hockey league, the KHL.
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