Yury Kovalchuk

Yuri Kovalchuk spent his childhood and youth in Leningrad. He was the second child in a family of history teachers. His father, Valentin Mikhailovich Kovalchuk, is Russian, and his mother, Miriam Abramovna Kovalchuk (née Viro), is Jewish. His brother Mikhail is five years older than him.{{cite web |url=https://dzen.ru/a/XcFwxQbMRgCty36l |title=Юрий Ковальчук – миллиардер, в банке которого хранит деньги Путин |language=ru |website=Дзен |date=2023 |access-date=2024-08-06}}

From 1987 to 1991, he was the first deputy director of Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute.

In 1992, Kovalchuk was a founder of the STREAM Corporation ({{langx|ru|ЗАО "Корпорация "СТРИМ"}}).{{cite news |url=https://www.mn.ru/issue.php?2004-4-21 |title=НОВЫЕ "ОЛИГАРХИ": КТО ОНИ? Немногие сведения о Юрии Ковальчуке и Геннадии Тимченко едва ли позволяют поставить этих людей в один ряд с представителями сверхкрупного бизнеса |trans-title=NEW "OLIGARCHS": WHO ARE THEY? Few information about Yuri Kovalchuk and Gennady Timchenko hardly makes it possible to put these people on a par with representatives of super-large business |language=ru |work=ИД "МОСКОВСКИЕ НОВОСТИ" (Moscow News) |date=2004 |issue =4 |access-date=15 July 2021 |archive-date=5 March 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040305013513/https://www.mn.ru/issue.php?2004-4-21}}

Kovalchuk is very closely associated with Vladimir Stolyarenko.{{cite news |last=Васильев |first=Юрий (Vasiliev, Yuri) |url=http://www.mn.ru/issue.php?2004-4-20 |title=НЕВЕДОМЫЕ МИРУ ФАКТЫ: "Люди, очнитесь!" - призвал российский народ кандидат в президенты Иван РЫБКИН. Корреспондент "МН" Юрий ВАСИЛЬЕВ попытался внять его призыву |trans-title=FACTS UNKNOWN TO THE WORLD: "People, wake up!" - the presidential candidate Ivan RYBKIN called on the Russian people. MN correspondent Yuri VASILIEV tried to heed his call |language=ru |work=ИД "МОСКОВСКИЕ НОВОСТИ" (Moscow News) issue 4 |date=2004 |access-date=15 July 2021 |archive-date=4 March 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040304225753/http://www.mn.ru/issue.php?2004-4-20}}{{cite news |url=https://www.mn.ru/issue.php?2004-4-21 |title=НОВЫЕ "ОЛИГАРХИ": КТО ОНИ? Немногие сведения о Юрии Ковальчуке и Геннадии Тимченко едва ли позволяют поставить этих людей в один ряд с представителями сверхкрупного бизнеса |trans-title=NEW "OLIGARCHS": WHO ARE THEY? Few information about Yuri Kovalchuk and Gennady Timchenko hardly makes it possible to put these people on a par with representatives of super-large business |language=ru |work=ИД "МОСКОВСКИЕ НОВОСТИ" (Moscow News) Issue 4 |date=2004 |access-date=15 July 2021 |archive-date=5 March 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040305013513/https://www.mn.ru/issue.php?2004-4-21}}{{cite news |url=http://www.compromat.ru/imgup/converted_18319.jpg |title="Дочерние" российские зарубежные банки и сеть ВТБ: доли ЦБ, ВТБ и др. |trans-title=Russian Foreign "Daughter" Banks and the VTB Network: stakes held by Central Bank, VTB, others |work=compromat.ru |date=February 2005 |access-date=15 July 2021 |quote=}}{{cite news |last=Бирман |first=Александр (Birman, Alexander) |url=https://ko.ru/document.asp?d_no=11319&p=1 |title=В советских сетях: Нефтедоллары пойдут по проверенным каналам загранбанков |trans-title=In Soviet networks: Oil dollars will go through proven channels of foreign banks |work=Компании Деловой Еженедельник (ko.ru) |date=21 February 2005 |access-date=15 July 2021 |archive-date=13 March 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050313182643/https://ko.ru/document.asp?d_no=11319&p=1}}{{efn|From 1989 to 1995, the president and chairman of the board of Tokobank was Viktor Konstantinovich Yakunin ({{langx|ru|Виктор Константинович Якунин}}) who created Tokobank.{{cite web |url=http://letopis.org/static/org/images/directs/6/49b13b66-3777-11ea-9e5e-001be2a7c7fd.pdf |title=Виктор Константинович Якунин: Нашим возможностям соответствовал, Ost-West Handelsbank |trans-title=Victor Konstantinovich Yakunin: Our capabilities matched, Ost-West Handelsbank |language=ru |work=letopis.org |date= |access-date=12 August 2021 |archive-date=13 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813011601/http://letopis.org/static/org/images/directs/6/49b13b66-3777-11ea-9e5e-001be2a7c7fd.pdf}} On 28 April 1992 using DM 50 million from a "frozen" VEB account, Tokobank gained an 80.6% stake in Ost-West Handelsbank after the shareholders of Ost-West Handelsbank transferred the stake to Tokobank which was the first privatization of a former sovzagranbank ({{langx|ru|Совзагранбанк}}).{{cite news |last=Симонов |first=Дмитрий |url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4560 |title=Выкуплен первый совзагранбанк: Чьи деньги, Зин? |trans-title=The first sovzagranbank was redeemed: Whose money, Zin? |language=ru |work=Коммерсантъ |date=4 May 1992 |access-date=12 August 2021}}{{cite news |last=Буйлов |first=Максим (Builov, Maxim) |url=http://www.compromat.ru/page_11356.htm |title=Банки-2001: Кому принадлежит Россия |trans-title=Banks-2001: Who owns Russia |language=ru |work=Коммерсант |date=11 December 2001 |access-date=12 August 2021 |quote= Archived at compromat.ru on 11 December 2001.}} In May 1998, members of the St. Petersburg "Northern Alliance" ({{langx|ru|«Северный Альянс»}}) including Vladimir Stolyarenko, held temporary directorships of Tokobank ({{langx|ru|Токобанк}}). In 1998, Tokobank owned a 28% stake in the German bank Ost-West Handelsbank. In 1998, "Northern Alliance" ({{langx|ru|«Северный Альянс»}}) associated with Saint Petersburg included directors and shareholders of Tokobank including Sudhir Gupta, owner of Amtel Tire Holding and controlled Yunicbank ({{langx|ru|Юникбанк}}), whose August 1998 head of the supervisory board was Stepan Kovalchuk ({{langx|ru|Степан Ковальчук}}), the chairman of the board of Flamingo Bank ({{langx|ru|банк «Фламинг»}}). Stepan Kovalchuk is a grand-nephew of Yuri Kovalchuk.{{cite news |last=Бирман |first=Александр (Birman, Alexander) |url=https://ko.ru/document.asp?d_no=11319&p=1 |title=В советских сетях: Нефтедоллары пойдут по проверенным каналам загранбанков |trans-title=In Soviet networks: Oil dollars will go through proven channels of foreign banks |work=Компании Деловой Еженедельник (ko.ru) |date=21 February 2005 |access-date=15 July 2021 |archive-date=13 March 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050313182643/https://ko.ru/document.asp?d_no=11319&p=1}}{{cite news |last1=Рубин |first1=Михаил (Rubin, Mikhail) |last2=Баданин |first2=Роман (Badanin, Roman) |url=https://www.proekt.media/narrative/telegram-kanaly/ |title=Телега из Кремля. Рассказ о том, как власти превратили Telegram в телевизор |trans-title=A cart from the Kremlin. The story of how the authorities turned Telegram into a TV |language=ru |work=Проект (proekt.media) |date=28 November 2018 |access-date=15 July 2021}}}}

Since the early 1990s, Kovalchuk has owned a dacha in Solovyovka in the Priozersky District of the Leningrad region, located on the eastern shore of the Komsomolskoye lake on the Karelian Isthmus near Saint Petersburg. His neighbours there are Vladimir Putin, Vladimir Yakunin, Andrei Fursenko, Sergey Fursenko, Viktor Myachin, Vladimir Smirnov and Nikolay Shamalov. Together they instituted the co-operative society Ozero (the Lake) which united their properties on 10 November 1996.[https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/02/how-the-1980s-explains-vladimir-putin/273135/# How the 1980s Explains Vladimir Putin. The Ozero group.] By Fiona Hill & Clifford G. Gaddy, The Atlantic, 14 February 2013{{cite web|url=http://www.lib.ru/HISTORY/FELSHTINSKY/naslednik.txt|title=Владимир Прибыловский, Юрий Фельштинский. Операция "Наследник". Главы из книги|website=www.lib.ru|access-date=22 November 2018}}

In November 2000, he was a main shareholder of the Brewery "Baltika" ({{Langx|ru|пивоваренная компания "Балтика"}}). Since 2004, he has been chair of Rossiya Bank and its largest shareholder.[http://www.vedomosti.ru/newspaper/article.shtml?2005/03/01/88331 Anna Shcherbakova. Interview with Mikhail Klishin, Director general of the Russia Bank.] Vedomosti #35(1316), 1 March 2005. (in Russian){{cite web|url=http://www.anticompromat.ru/oligarhi/ppo.html|title=Происхождение путинской олигархии|last=Pribylovsky|first=Vladimir|date=11 October 2005|website=AntiCompromat.ru|language=ru|trans-title=The Origin of Putin's Oligarchy}} {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071222023029/http://www.anticompromat.ru/oligarhi/ppo.html |date=22 December 2007 }}.[https://archive.today/20080515233652/http://www.stockmap.spb.ru/company/3022/0/ The Russia Bank], Stockmap.spb.ru

The May 2008 issue of Russian Forbes listed him for the first time in its Golden Hundred of Russia's richest, calling him and another new entrant to the List, Gennady Timchenko, "good acquaintances of Vladimir Putin."[https://www.reuters.com/article/sphereNews/idUSL234792120080423?sp=true&view=sphere Kremlin-linked tycoon eyes Russia media firm-report] reuters.com 23 April 2008. The magazine placed him at number 53 on the Russians-only list, with an estimated fortune of $1.9 billion. After sanctions imposed on Kovalchuk in 2018, this dropped to $650 million.{{Cite news|url=https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/russia-loses-23-billionaires-to-economic-crisis-45833|title=Russia Loses 23 Billionaires to Economic Crisis|date=16 April 2015|work=The Moscow Times|access-date=14 August 2020|language=en}}

His elder brother Mikhail Kovalchuk is the scientific secretary of the Council for Science and High Technologies attached to the president of the Russian Federation.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

In 2015, Yury Kovalchuk's National Media Group (NMG) and US Discovery Channel joined forces to form Media Alliance of which NMG owns 80%.{{Cite news|url=https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/billionaire-kovalchuks-national-media-group-to-buy-russian-distributor-of-cnn-51323|title=Billionaire Kovalchuk's National Media Group to Buy Russian Distributor of CNN|date=23 December 2015|work=The Moscow Times|access-date=14 August 2020|language=en}} Later that year, Kovalchuk acquired the rights to Ted Turner's Russian assets including the Russian version of CNN, Cartoon Network and Boomerang. The reason for the sale was based on the Russian media ownership law that limits ownership of Russian media by foreigners.{{Cite news|url=http://www.eurasianbusinessbriefing.com/billionaire-kovalchuk/|title='Putin's personal banker' Kovalchuk to buy CNN Russia as Turner moves out|date=24 December 2015|work=Eurasian Business Briefing - Information for Investors|access-date=23 October 2018|language=en-US}}

In 2017, Kovalchuk purchased the century-old Novy Svet vineyard in Crimea for $26.4 million in one of the first privatization deals in the region since the annexation of the region by Russia.{{Cite news|url=https://themoscowtimes.com/news/putin-ally-targeted-by-us-sanctions-buys-winery-in-crimea-60001|title=Putin Ally Targeted by U.S. Sanctions Buys Winery in Crimea|date=20 December 2017|work=The Moscow Times|access-date=14 August 2020|language=en}}

As of January 2019, Kovalchuk and Nikolai Shamalov through their ownership of Rossiya Bank have become the most important investors in Russia's development of annexed Crimea.{{cite news |last=Васильев |first=Андрей (Vasiliev, Andrey)|url=https://theins.ru/korrupciya/137605 |title=После Ротенберга хоть камни с неба. Как Крым стал прибыльным бизнесом для друзей Путина |trans-title=After Rotenberg, even stones from the sky. How Crimea became a profitable business for Putin's friends |language=ru |work=Insider |date=25 January 2019 |access-date=20 November 2020 |archive-date=29 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190129180253/https://theins.ru/korrupciya/137605}}{{Better source needed|date=December 2020}}

In 2020, the world's leading streaming entertainment service Netflix partnered with Kovalchuk's National Media Group to launch a local-language streaming service in Russia.{{cite news |title=Netflix partners with broadcaster linked to Putin ally Yury Kovalchuk |url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/companies/telecoms-and-technology/2020-09-02-netflix-partners-with-broadcaster-linked-to-putin-ally-yury-kovalchuk/ |work=Business Day |date=2 September 2020}}

On 15 April 2021, Alexei Navalny's website stated that since 2003 Kovalchuk is the owner of Putin's residence at Valdai which is on the southern {{convert|100|ha}} of a peninsula between Lake Uzhin ({{langx|ru|Ужин}}) and Lake Valdai ({{langx|ru|озеро Валдай}}) in the Novgorod Oblast near Saint Petersburg and is across Lake Valdai from Valday ({{langx|ru|Валдай}}).{{cite web |url=https://navalny.com/p/6480/ |title=Тайны валдайской дачи Путина |trans-title=Secrets of Putin's Valdai dacha |language=ru |work=navalny.com |date=15 April 2021 |access-date=17 April 2021}}{{cite news |last=Матвеев |first=Владимир (Matveev, Vladimir) |url=https://www.kommersant.ru/ImagesVlast/20003621-3.jpg |title=Власть |trans-title=Vlast |language=ru |work=Kommersant |date=12 September 2000 |access-date=17 April 2021 |quote=Map showing location of Putin's dacha at Valdai}} Often, Putin's Dacha, which was built in 1980, is called Valdai, Dolgie Borody, or Stalin's Dacha, but Stalin was not alive when Valdai was built.{{cite news |last=Матвеев |first=Владимир (Matveev, Vladimir) |url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/17600 |title=Путино-Дачное |trans-title=Putino-Dachnoe |language=ru |work=Kommersant |date=12 September 2000 |access-date=17 April 2021}} Abutting north of this location is {{convert|150|ha}} owned by the Russian Federation and is frequented by the Federal Security Service. Kovalchuk leases Putin's Dacha to the Russian government for an undisclosed price.

Kovalchuk owns shares in several of Russia’s most influential TV channels, including Channel One Russia.{{cite news |title=Meet The Oligarch Who Whispers In Putin's Ear |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhyatt/2022/03/18/meet-the-man-who-whispers-in-putins-ear/ |work=Forbes |date=18 March 2022}}{{cite news |title=Putin cronies and criminals gear up to steal Russia |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2023/02/14/commentary/world-commentary/putin-cronies/ |work=Japan Times |date=14 February 2023}} In December 2021, Alisher Usmanov's holding company USM said it had sold its stake in Russia's leading internet group VK to state-run insurance company Sogaz, which is partly owned by Yury Kovalchuk.{{cite news |title=Telegram's Billionaire Founder Says He's Never Provided Ukrainians' Data To Russia |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2022/03/07/telegrams-billionaire-founder-says-hes-never-provided-ukrainians-data-to-russia/ |work=Forbes |date=7 March 2022}}

Kovalchuk was one of several individuals sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department on 20 March 2014 in response to the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. According to the U.S. Treasury, Kovalchuk is a close advisor to President Putin and has been referred to as one of his "cashiers".{{Cite web|title=Executive Order - Blocking Property of Additional Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine |date=20 March 2014 |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/20/executive-order-blocking-property-additional-persons-contributing-situat |publisher=The White House - Office of the Press Secretary|access-date=14 August 2020}}{{cite web|url=http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/OFAC-Enforcement/Pages/20140320_33.aspx|title=Ukraine-related Designations|website=www.treasury.gov|access-date=22 November 2018}}{{cite web|url=http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/SDN-List/Pages/default.aspx|title=Specially Designated Nationals And Blocked Persons List (SDN) Human Readable Lists|website=www.treasury.gov|access-date=22 November 2018}}{{cite news |title=Treasury Sanctions Russian Officials, Members Of The Russian Leadership's Inner Circle, And An Entity For Involvement In The Situation In Ukraine |url=http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl23331.aspx |publisher= United States Treasury Department |date=20 March 2014 |access-date=20 March 2014}}{{cite web|last=Shuklin |first=Peter |title=Putin's inner circle: who got in a new list of US sanctions |url=https://news.liga.net/articles/politics/1066761-blizhniy_krug_putina_kto_popal_v_novyy_spisok_sanktsiy_ssha.htm |publisher=liga.net |date=21 March 2014 |access-date=20 February 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150207152258/http://news.liga.net/articles/politics/1066761-blizhniy_krug_putina_kto_popal_v_novyy_spisok_sanktsiy_ssha.htm |archive-date=7 February 2015 }}{{cite web | last = President of The United States | title = Ukraine EO13661 | url = https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/ukraine_eo2.pdf | publisher = Federal Register | date = 19 March 2016 | access-date = 20 February 2016}}

Kovalchuk was sanctioned by the UK government in 2014 in relation to the Russo-Ukrainian War. {{cite web |title=CONSOLIDATED LIST OF FINANCIAL SANCTIONS TARGETS IN THE UK |url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1150217/Russia.pdf |access-date=16 April 2023}}

• List of Russian people by net worth
• List of people and organizations sanctioned during the Russo-Ukrainian War

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Category:1951 births

Category:Living people

Category:Russian Jews

Category:Businesspeople from Saint Petersburg

Category:Russian billionaires

Category:Former billionaires

Category:Russian individuals subject to U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions

Category:Russian individuals subject to European Union sanctions

Category:Russian individuals subject to United Kingdom sanctions