Meet the seven Russian oligarchs who face the brunt

VLADIMIR L BOGDANOV, SECRETIVE LEADER OF AN OIL GIANT Bogdanov, 66, is the director general and co-owner of Surgutneftegas, the fourth-biggest oil producer in Russia, which has an unusually opaque ownership structure, even by Russian standards. On paper, Bogdanov, an associate of Putin’s since the days when the president was a local official in St Petersburg, owns just 0.37 per cent of the company, with a majority of its shares controlled by a web of “noncommercial partnerships.”

OLEG V DERIPASKA, INDUSTRIAL TYCOON TIED TO PAUL MANAFORT Deripaska controls Basic Element, which in turn owns more than 100 Russian and international companies. He laid the foundation of his empire in the “aluminum wars” of the 1990s, a vicious struggle for control of natural resources in which he emerged triumphant, becoming the undisputed king of aluminum production in Russia.

SULEIMAN A KERIMOV, GOLD MAGNATE AND POLITICIAN Kerimov, 52, is both the owner of Polyus, Russia’s biggest gold mining company, and a member of the Federation Council, the upper chamber of Russian parliament. He has been under investigation in France for tax fraud and money laundering, suspected of buying several villas in Cap d’Antibes through shell companies. IGOR A ROTENBERG, HEIR TO A CONSTRUCTION FORTUNE Rotenberg, 44, is the son of Arkady R Rotenberg, Putin’s former judo partner, and their family’s business fortunes have gone hand-in-hand with Putin’s political career. Igor Rotenberg is a junior partner in one of the country’s largest construction companies, controlled by his father and his uncle. KIRILL N SHAMALOV, SAID TO HAVE BEEN PUTIN’S SON-IN-LAW Shamalov, 36, became a highranking executive and large shareholder of Sibur, a gas processing and petrochemical company, shortly before he married Katerina Tikhonova, who is widely believed to be Putin’s daughter.

ANDREI V SKOCH, BILLIONAIRE PARLIAMENTARIAn Skoch, 52, a member of the Russian parliament, part owner of a steel company, and a shareholder in the investment conglomerate run by Alisher B Usmanov, a close associate of Mr. Putin’s, who controls one of Russia’s largest phone companies. Numerous media reports have linked Skoch to organised crime — specifically to the syndicate known as the Solntsevo gang.

VIKTOR F VEKSELBERG, ONE OF RUSSIA’S WEALTHIEST MEN Vekselberg, 60, who is close to the Kremlin, is the founder and principal owner of Renova Group, a large investment conglomerate with an array of assets around the world, including metals production, energy, telecommunications and banking companies, and a number of Russian airports.