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International Business Times
March 21 2014
Sanctioning Putin's Inner Circle: 10 Things You Didn't Know About
Russian Oil Billionaire Gennady Timchenko
By Meagan Clark
on March 21 2014 10:41 AM
The U.S. imposed sanctions on a number of Russian President Vladimir
Putin's close associates and alleged business partners in his inner
circle, but the highest-profile target is oil billionaire Gennady
Timchenko.
On Wednesday, the U.S. banned Timchenko and 19 others from entering
the U.S., from doing business with U.S. companies or financial
institutions, and assets they own in the U.S. were frozen.
Here are 10 things to know about the billionaire businessman:
1. Timchenko was born on Nov. 9, 1952 in Leninakan (now Gyumri),
Armenian SSR, about 750 miles from Crimea. His father served in an
unknown rank in the Soviet military, and Timchenko spent part of his
childhood in the German Democratic Republic and in the Ukraine.
2. He was ranked 61st on Forbes magazine's 2014 world billionaires
list, with a net worth of $15.3 billion. His net worth was estimated
in 2008 at $2.5 billion and at $400 million in 2009.
3. He was ranked as the sixth-richest Russian in 2014.
4. Timchenko co-founded privately held Gunvor Group Ltd. in 1997,
which is now the fourth-largest oil trader in the world. The U.S.
Treasury alleges that Putin has investments in Gunvor and may have
access to Gunvor funds. The Kremlin denies the allegation.
5. Timchenko, until Wednesday, owned a 45 percent stake in Gunvor, his
largest asset. But immediately after the U.S. and the EU imposed
sanctions, he sold his shares to his co-founding partner, Torbjorn
Tornqvist.
6. Timchenko also has stakes in Novatek, Russia's second-largest gas
producer behind state-controlled Gazprom, and Sibur, Russia's largest
petrochemical manufacturer.
7. In addition to Russia, Timchenko also has citizenship in Armenia
and Finland, which makes him a European Union national. He lives in
Geneva with his wife, Elena, and their three children.
8. Timchenko graduated in 1976 from the Mechanical Institute of St.
Petersburg (then Leningrad) as an electrical mechanical engineer.
9. Timchenko, along with other associates who were sanctioned this
week, co-founded in 1998 a club for judo, a sport Putin enjoys.
10. Timchenko became a leader in the Russian oil trading industry in
the 1980s when he helped set up export routes for oil products from
the USSR to western countries.
http://www.ibtimes.com/sanctioning-putins-inner-circle-10-things-you-didnt-know-about-russian-oil-billionaire-gennady
March 21 2014
Sanctioning Putin's Inner Circle: 10 Things You Didn't Know About
Russian Oil Billionaire Gennady Timchenko
By Meagan Clark
on March 21 2014 10:41 AM
The U.S. imposed sanctions on a number of Russian President Vladimir
Putin's close associates and alleged business partners in his inner
circle, but the highest-profile target is oil billionaire Gennady
Timchenko.
On Wednesday, the U.S. banned Timchenko and 19 others from entering
the U.S., from doing business with U.S. companies or financial
institutions, and assets they own in the U.S. were frozen.
Here are 10 things to know about the billionaire businessman:
1. Timchenko was born on Nov. 9, 1952 in Leninakan (now Gyumri),
Armenian SSR, about 750 miles from Crimea. His father served in an
unknown rank in the Soviet military, and Timchenko spent part of his
childhood in the German Democratic Republic and in the Ukraine.
2. He was ranked 61st on Forbes magazine's 2014 world billionaires
list, with a net worth of $15.3 billion. His net worth was estimated
in 2008 at $2.5 billion and at $400 million in 2009.
3. He was ranked as the sixth-richest Russian in 2014.
4. Timchenko co-founded privately held Gunvor Group Ltd. in 1997,
which is now the fourth-largest oil trader in the world. The U.S.
Treasury alleges that Putin has investments in Gunvor and may have
access to Gunvor funds. The Kremlin denies the allegation.
5. Timchenko, until Wednesday, owned a 45 percent stake in Gunvor, his
largest asset. But immediately after the U.S. and the EU imposed
sanctions, he sold his shares to his co-founding partner, Torbjorn
Tornqvist.
6. Timchenko also has stakes in Novatek, Russia's second-largest gas
producer behind state-controlled Gazprom, and Sibur, Russia's largest
petrochemical manufacturer.
7. In addition to Russia, Timchenko also has citizenship in Armenia
and Finland, which makes him a European Union national. He lives in
Geneva with his wife, Elena, and their three children.
8. Timchenko graduated in 1976 from the Mechanical Institute of St.
Petersburg (then Leningrad) as an electrical mechanical engineer.
9. Timchenko, along with other associates who were sanctioned this
week, co-founded in 1998 a club for judo, a sport Putin enjoys.
10. Timchenko became a leader in the Russian oil trading industry in
the 1980s when he helped set up export routes for oil products from
the USSR to western countries.
http://www.ibtimes.com/sanctioning-putins-inner-circle-10-things-you-didnt-know-about-russian-oil-billionaire-gennady