This document discusses Vladimir Putin's inner circle in Russia and those affected by sanctions from the US and EU. It identifies the original partners in Putin's cooperative from the 1990s, including Vladimir Yakunin, Yury Kovalchuk, and Nikolay Shamalov. It describes how Gennady Timchenko amassed a large fortune controlling energy companies like Gunvor and gas giant Novatek. The document also notes how Boris and Arkady Rotenberg, Igor Sechin of Rosneft, and Sergey Chemezov of Rostec are among Putin's closest allies facing sanctions.

1. 9/8/2014 Putin's "Inner Circle". - Politics - Quora
mspolitics.quora.com http://mspolitics.quora.com/Putins­Inner­Circle
Putin's "Inner Circle".
Hello there my lovely readers!
I promised to write about EU and USA sanctions and to explain where did the "inner circle" that we all hear
about come from.
The story begins at a little known Co­operative
Ozero established in almost 20 years ago. The partners of
this venture were:
1) Vladimir Smirnov (businessman) (head of the co­operative,
now head of Techsnabexport ­Russian
nuclear
exporting company)
2) Vladimir Putin ­the
"you know who".
3) Vladimir Yakunin (head of state owned Russian Railways, biggest railway company).
4) Fursenko Brothers (Andrei Fursenko, Sergey Fursenko) Powerful businessmen couple, not much is known
about these two. Sergey served some time in Gazprom and now is a Director­General
of LentransGaz and
Andrei was the minister of education and now is the chairman of Chairman of the Academic Council of the
Foundation "Centre for Strategic Research North­West".
The CEO of this council Yury Kovalchuk, who is also a
number 5 on our list:)
5) Yury Kovalchuk ­Chairman
and major shareholder of Rossiya Bank. Close ties with Fursenko brothers.
Often called "Putin's personal banker".
6) Viktor Myachin ­former
Director­General
of Rossiya Bank (until 2004). Since ­CEO
of the investment
company "Abros" that is a subsidiary of Rossiya Bank. This investment company owns 51% of the Согаз —
Википедия, a big insurance company in Russia. Another owner of Согаз is Gennady Timchenko (please read
about him below).
7) Nikolay Shamalov ­shareholder
of Bank Rossiya and a prominent russian businessman apparently he was
collecting money from various russian businessmen through his offshore companies to finance the Putin's
Palace (here is a Forbes link on that ­Кто
занял место Путина).
Impressive isn't it? All I did was to write down the list of partners in the co­operative
Ozero. And I managed to list
half of the current government (at one point or other).
Now lets look at the sanctions against what BBC says is Inner Circle:
1) Yury Kovalchuk (number 5 on the partners list). The company he is leading ­Rossiya
Bank is also under the
sanctions of the USA government and EU.
2) Vladimir Yakunin (number 3) on the partners list).
3) Gennady Timchenko ­the
most heavy sanctions were given to this guy. Why is he so important? His track
record looks incredibly impressive... Perhaps TOO impressive. His personal wealth went from $0.4 billion in
2009 to $15.3 billion in 2014. In the matter of 5 years when the world was in deep shit this man earned about
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2. 9/8/2014 Putin's "Inner Circle". - Politics - Quora
$15 billion. Too good to be true? I think so, apparently USA government thinks that as well.
Well lets look at what he owns:
On number of occasions various western media said that this company is a bank account for Mr. Putin (Accord
entre Gunvor et "The Economist", Gennady Timchenko and Gunvor International BV), because of its unusual
success in the market, and a VERY unique position in the Russian Energy sector (all oil companies suddenly
sell a certain portion of their oil not by themselves but through Gunvor. As if this is an unnecessary intermediary
being introduced to the market, but this company is positioning itself as having impeccable personnel quality and
unique network of clients (as if its THAT hard to sell oil in this world). That way a certain "portion" of major oil
revenues continues to settle down in this company for no obvious reason as all big oil companies can perfectly
sell the majority of their oil by themselves. Other thing is it employs only 1200 people. And thats today (after
heavy expansion). In 2009 there were a couple of hundred people. All in all a very small, neat, efficient company
to earn a fortune.
Volga Group ­a
holding company for Mr. Timchenko. All his assets sit in this company and the list is quite
impressive (more than 90,000 people work for assets of Volga Group). And consists of:
­80%
of Stroytransgaz ­engineering
construction company in the field of oil and gas.
­23%
of Novatek Russia's largest independent gas producer.
­Sheremetyevo
International Airport and Pulkovo Airport
­"
Geotech Holding" a surveying company (used as a preliminary work in construction and making sure the
construction is done to appropriate tolerances)
­37,3%
of Sibur gas processing company
­60%
of Колмар — Википедия a vertically integrated coal mining business.
­30%
of Русское море — Википедия one of the biggest fish importers and processing companies in Russia.
and many many more the list is endless you can check it out here: Volga Group — Википедия.
BOTH these companies (Gunvor and Volga Group) are under USA and EU sanctions at the moment. It is
reported that Mr. Timchenko sold his share in Gunvor before sanctions became live. But doing business became
much much harder for Mr. Timchenko that you can be sure of. His silence can be misleading. He has to be
silent, he can't afford to show that the western sanctions REALLY affected him.
4) Boris and Arkady Rotenberg. Business tycoons with very close ties to Putin. Combined wealth of more than
$6 billion. Were one of the main contractors for Sochi Olympic Games. Also own various businesses in oil and
pipe industries.
5) Igor Sechin ­the
person responsible for Yukos take down and putting Mikhail Khodorkovsky in jail. After
successfully completing this task he gained enormous favor of Putin, proving himself as a ruthless, tough and
smart leader. He is now one of the closest people to Putin, holding a position of CEO of Rosneft ­the
largest oil
company in Russia (government owned, similar to Gazprom but in oil industry).
6) Sergey Chemezov ­CEO
of Rostec, the largest engineering company in Russia (also state owned) that
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3. 9/8/2014 Putin's "Inner Circle". - Politics - Quora
specializes in military engineering.
Some of these Surnames are not well known, yet these are one of the most powerful people in Russia.
Next, I will bring you the INNER story of the reasons for Separatism moovement JUST in 2 regions of Ukraine ­Luhansk
Oblast and Donetsk Oblast. You think its the Russians, or the brainwashed people that want a better
life.... But unfortunately the truth is far more convoluted than you think.
So that will come in the next post:) Please stay tuned.
­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Resources
Used:
Russian officials targeted by sanctions
List of individuals sanctioned during the 2014 pro­Russian
conflict in Ukraine
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