![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2e/Gennady_Timchenko%252C_2018.jpg/640px-Gennady_Timchenko%252C_2018.jpg&w=640&q=50)
Gennady Timchenko
Russian billionaire businessman / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gennady Nikolayevich Timchenko (Russian: Геннадий Николаевич Тимченко, also spelled Guennadi Timtchenko; born 9 November 1952) is a Russian oligarch and billionaire businessman.[1] He founded and owns the private investment firm Volga Group. He was previously a co-owner of Gunvor Group.
Gennady Timchenko | |
---|---|
Геннадий Тимченко | |
![]() Timchenko in 2018 | |
Born | Gennady Nikolayevich Timchenko (1952-11-09) 9 November 1952 (age 71) Leninakan, Armenian SSR, Soviet Union (now Gyumri, Armenia) |
Citizenship | |
Occupation | Businessman |
Spouse | Elena |
Children | 3 |
Awards |
|
Timchenko has been close friends with Russian leader Vladimir Putin since the early 1990s.[2][3][4] In 1991, Putin gave Timchenko an oil export license.[2] Timchenko then founded Gunvor, which has now exported billions of dollars-worth of Russian oil.[2]
Timchenko's investment firm Volga Group owns a large stake of shares of the natural gas giant Novatek.[3] The Pandora Papers leaks revealed that a Timchenko firm, which played a key role in the Novatek investment, obtained massive loans through anonymous offshore shell companies.[3] Timchenko was sanctioned by the US[5] over Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea. He was about to be sanctioned further by the government of the United Kingdom just before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.[6][7]
As of March 2022, Timchenko was 205th on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with an estimated fortune of US $10.3 billion;[8] he is the sixth richest person in Russia.[8] He is known for being the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Kontinental Hockey League,[9] and President of the SKA Saint Petersburg ice hockey club.[10] He is a citizen of Russia,[11] Finland, and Armenia.[12][13][14]