Vladimir Yevtushenkov
Vladimir Petrovich Yevtushenkov (Evtushenkov) (; born 25 September 1948 Smolensk, Belarussian SSR, Soviet Union) is a Russian billionaire business oligarch. He is the majority owner and chairman of Sistema. As a member of the Russian-Saudi Economic Council and as chairman since 2002 of both the Russian side of the Russian-Saudi and Russian-Arab Business Councils which are part of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), he maintains very close ties to both Saudi Arabia and the Arab world. He is close to Serhiy Taruta, Viktor Yanukovych and Mykola Bilokon. Early life. Yevtushenkov has master's degrees  in chemistry (1973, from D. Mendeleev Moscow Chemical Engineering Institute) and economics (1980), and a PhD in economics (1986). Yevtushenkov worked as an engineer at Karacharovo Plastics Works until 1982, and as chief engineer and first deputy general director of the Polymerbyt Scientific and Production Association until 1987, when he was appointed as the head of the Department of Science and Technology for the Moscow city government. One year after Yuri Luzhkov, who is the husband of Yevtushenkov's sister in law, became mayor of Moscow, Yevtushenkov resigned from the Moscow city government in 1993 to establish Sistema from his  small city department known as the Moscow Committee on Science and Technology. Career. The first firm he gained control was Moscow City Telephone Network (MGTS) purchasing a 55% stake in MGTS during privatization. In 1993, he gained control of the that became a designated bank for the Government of Moscow which greatly increased cash flows through the bank and, in February 2018, MTS Bank became the sole operator for five years on the Mayor of Moscow's website mos.ru. Since 1995, he is the major shareholder and chairman of the board of the Russian investment holding company Sistema (together with  another Top Managers such as Evgeny Novitsky). Sistema was an early shareholder in Russian mobile telecommunications pioneer VimpelCom, and sold its stake when the company was the first Russian company to list on the New York Stock Exchange in November 1996. Yevtushenkov took Sistema public in February 2005, in a $1.35 billion IPO that was Russia's largest ever at the time. Today Sistema is the largest shareholder in MTS, Russia's largest telecommunications company. Other major Sistema assets include children's goods retailer Detsky Mir, pulp and paper holding Segezha Group, Russia's largest chain of private healthcare  clinics MEDSI, the largest stake in East-West United Bank (Luxembourg) (EWUB) which has become the principal Russian overseas bank in Europe after Gazprombank's liquidation and the sanctioning of the VTB network of banks, etc. In 2009, Sistema purchased oil and gas companies in the Republic of Bashkortostan. This would be the foundation of the oil and gas company Bashneft. Currently, Yevtushenkov owns 64% of the total conglomerate. In 2014, according to "Forbes", he was Russia's 15th richest businessman with a fortune of around US$9 billion. On the "Forbes" 2016 list of the world's billionaires, he  was ranked #722 with a net worth of US$2.4 billion. By February 2018 his assets had fallen to US$2 billion, and his rank plunged to #1215; by November 2018, Yevtushenkov was Russia's 62nd wealthiest man with his total means amounting US$1.4 billion and dropping to #1541 in the world's billionaires ranking. Bashneft and house arrest; sanctions. In September 2014, Russian investigators placed Yevtushenkov under house arrest, accusing him of money-laundering in connection with the acquisition of shares in oil producer Bashneft. 70% of Bashneft's shares were owned by Sistema. Sistema said it considered  the accusations baseless. In December 2014, as ruled by the Moscow Arbitration (Commercial) Court, Bashneft was re-nationalised. Following the return of Bashneft to State ownership, in February 2015 the Moscow Arbitration Court awarded Yevtushenkov's Sistema RUB 70.7 billion ($1.1 billion) in damages from the loss of Bashneft. In January 2016, all the accusations against him in connection with the acquisition of Bashneft has been dismissed as it was found that no crime had been committed. As of the end of March 2022, Yevtushenkov, Sistema and its subsidiary East-West United Bank (EWUB) in Luxembourg have not been  under sanctions associated with the Russian interference in Ukraine, but on 7 April 2022 Yevtushenkov was included in the sanctions list of Australia. Personal life. He and his wife Natalya Nikolaevna (), who is the sister of Viktor Baturin and Yuri Luzhkov's second wife Yelena Baturina, have two children, and live in the of Moscow at ().