SANCTIONED BEFORE 2022
Vladimir Bogdanov
$900 mil • Sanctions: U.S. (2018) An oil baron who privatized state-owned drilling operations in the ’90s to create Surgutneftegas, Bogdanov was made a “Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation” by Putin in 2016 “for special labor service for the country and people.”
Oleg Deripaska
$1.7 bil • Sanctions: U.S. (2018), U.K. (2022)
Deripaska merged his Siberian Aluminum with the aluminum assets of Roman Abramovich’s Millhouse Capital to form Rusal in 2000. His ex-wife was Boris Yeltsin’s stepgranddaughter, and he holds a diplomatic passport. The U.S. Treasury hit both him and Rusal with sanctions in 2018. The measures against Rusal were lifted that December after Deripaska reduced his ownership to below 50%. He sued in American courts to challenge the sanctions in March 2019; in June 2021, a District Court judge in Washington, D.C., dismissed his lawsuit. Deripaska owns nearly $1.4 billion of overseas properties, including a $21 million mansion in D.C. and a house in London’s Belgravia Square; Clio, his yacht, was last glimpsed in the Maldives.
Mikhail Gutseriev
$1.3 bil • Sanctions: EU, U.K. (2021) Gutseriev, whose Safmar
Group has financial, media and industrial interests in both Russia and Belarus, was sanctioned by the EU for being a “longtime friend” of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko. His two jets flew from Moscow to Dubai and Istanbul, respectively, on March 19 and 20.
Suleiman Kerimov
$4.4 bil • Sanctions: U.S. (2018), EU, U.K. (2022)
A member of Russia’s upper house of parliament, Kerimov made a fresh fortune betting on Russian gold producer Polyus in 2008 after losing his first billions in the 2008 financial crisis. Authorities in France, where he owns four villas worth a combined $280 million, investigated him in 2019 on charges of tax fraud. Kerimov denied wrongdoing, and a court dismissed the case in 2020.
Yuri Kovalchuk
$1.3 bil • Sanctions: EU, U.K., U.S. (2014)
Russia’s de facto second man has been described by the United States government as Putin’s “close advisor” and “personal banker.” He is the biggest shareholder in the sanctioned Rossiya Bank and, through his holding company, National Media Group, he keeps a tight grip on the news Russians are permitted to hear and see. He and Putin own homes in the same exclusive Ozero dacha cooperative—and, according to Panama Papers disclosures, Kovalchuk owns the ski resort that hosted the wedding of Putin’s daughter in 2013.
Arkady Rotenberg
$1.7 bil • Sanctions: EU, U.K.,
U.S. (2014)
Putin’s former judo sparring partner won billions in state contracts over the years for building everything from infrastructure for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics to a 2018 bridge linking newly annexed Crimea to the Russian mainland. In 2019, he sold his construction group,
SGM, to a Gazprom subsidiary for $1 billion and transferred his shares of Mostotrest to a joint venture with a state-owned bank. He owns lots of real estate abroad, including villas in Sardinia and a luxury hotel in
Rome. All were frozen by Italian authorities in September 2014; Rotenberg sued the European Union and won a partial reversal of the measures in 2016.
Boris Rotenberg
$1 bil • Sanctions: U.S. (2014),
U.K. (2022)
Arkady Rotenberg’s younger brother and business partner; Boris and his wife, Karina, own three villas on the French Riviera and three homes, worth $4 million, in Atlanta.
Andrei Skoch
$4.7 bil • Sanctions: U.S. (2018), EU, U.K. (2022)
Alisher Usmanov’s partner has been a member of the Duma since 1999. The U.S. Treasury accused him of “longstanding ties to Russian organized criminal groups,” which he has denied.
Gennady Timchenko
$11.3 bil • Sanctions: U.S. (2014), EU, U.K. (2022)
At the end of the Soviet era, Timchenko ran a state-owned oil exporting company and became one of its largest shareholders when it was later privatized. He befriended Putin in the 1990s in Saint Petersburg when he and the Rotenberg brothers started a judo club called YavaraNeva. Today, Timchenko holds stakes in gas company Novatek and petrochemicals producer Sibur; he is also chair of the Russian national hockey league, KHL.
Viktor Vekselberg
$5.5 bil • Sanctions: U.S. (2018), U.K. (2022)
The Ukraine-born aluminum baron has done deals with oligarchs including Oleg Deripaska (UC Rusal) and Mikhail Fridman (TNK-BP). Vekselberg’s $90 million superyacht, Tango, and Airbus A319 jet were frozen by the U.S. Treasury in March.