Russian economist, statesman. Chairman of the Board and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of OJSC Gazprom. Candidate of Economic Sciences.
Family
Alexey was born and raised in a family of “Russian Germans”. Mother - Lyudmila Aleksandrovna Miller (1936-2009), father - Boris Vasilyevich Miller (1933-1986). Parents worked at the Radio Electronics Research Institute of the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry, which was later transformed into the Leninets Research and Production Association. His mother worked as an engineer, his father as a fitter.
Married. He and his wife Irina are raising a son, Mikhail.
Biography
He studied at school-gymnasium No. 330 in the Nevsky district of Leningrad. Graduated in 1984 Leningrad Financial and Economic Institute them. N. A. Voznesensky.
In the 1980s, he was part of the circle of Leningrad economists-reformers, whose informal leader was Anatoly Chubais; was a member of the "Synthesis" club at the Leningrad Youth Palace, which included young Leningrad economists and social scientists, including: Dmitry Vasiliev, Mikhail Dmitriev, Andrei Illarionov, Boris Lvin, Mikhail Manevich, Andrei Lankov, Andrei Prokofiev, Dmitry Travin and others.
From 1984 to 1986, he was an engineer-economist at LenNIIproekt.
In 1987-1990 he studied at the graduate school of LFEI named after. N.A. Voznesensky.
In 1990 - junior researcher at LenNIIproekt.
In 1991, a fateful acquaintance took place for Alexei Borisovich. This year he began his work in the Committee for External Relations of the St. Petersburg City Hall, where the position of his head was held by the current President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin. Miller worked under Putin's leadership for five years. During this time, we managed to establish contacts with the largest Western banks.
The change of power in St. Petersburg forced Alexey Miller to change his place of work. Having extensive connections, Miller became a desirable candidate for senior positions in major Russian companies. He was invited to work for the company OJSC "Sea Port of St. Petersburg", and there he worked for three years.
Since 1999, Miller took the place of CEO at JSC "Baltic Pipeline System".
According to the results of the elections in Russia in 2000, Vladimir Putin became president. Following him, his former subordinate Alexey Miller moved to the capital. He was appointed to the post of Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, but remained in office for only a year (2000-2001).
Since 2001 he becomes Chairman of the Board "Gazprom", and since 2002 - Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of OJSC Gazprom. Removal from office Rema Vyakhireva, who worked as chairman of OAO Gazprom for almost ten years, meant rapid changes in the company.
With the arrival of Miller, Gazprom becomes completely controlled by the state, and work begins to return assets lost during Vyakhirev’s rule.
There were also major personnel changes. Being far from the energy sector, Miller needed people for whom this field was not alien. A number of leadership positions went to people with whom the new chairman of the board had already worked; other appointments came from Kremlin, some members of Vyakhirev’s team managed to retain their posts.
Despite the fact that experts predicted Miller's imminent resignation, he strengthened his position. By 2004, the formation of a renewed management apparatus was completed. In 2006, Miller's work contract was extended for another five years.
At the beginning of 2010, the head of Gazprom, Alexey Miller, took third place in the ranking of the most effective top managers in the world according to the magazine. Harvard Business Review.
Experts studied the work of two thousand general directors companies, the performance of CEOs was measured by the return to shareholders during their tenure. At the same time, income was adjusted taking into account inflation and average indicators for the country and sector of the economy.
On May 18, 2010, Miller was elected vice president. Russian Football Union. In the second quarter of 2012, Miller took over as chairman of the board of directors. JSC "Russian Hippodromes".
In December 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the closure of the project "South Stream". Later, the head of Gazprom, Alexey Miller, explained that instead of " South Stream“A pipeline will be built through Turkey to the border with Greece, where a gas hub can be created.
In January, Alexey Miller advised European buyers to speed up preparations for changing the gas supply route due to the cessation of supplies through Ukraine.
Alexey Miller has numerous government awards.
Free time The top manager prefers to spend time with his family. He is interested in horse racing. Alexey Miller owns purebred stallions - Funny And Fragrant.
Vesely, imported from the USA, took 3rd place on August 12, 2012 at one of the races at the Central Moscow Hippodrome, receiving a prize of 3,000 rubles. Born at the Donskoy stud farm, Fragrant came first to the finish line seven times during his career and remained in the prizes 12 times.
Income
In 2013, he entered the top 3 Forbes list (3rd place) of the most expensive managers in Russia with an income of $25 million.
Rumors, scandals
Classmates said that Miller was an “inconspicuous guy,” although he was an excellent student. After graduating from FINEK in 1984 with honors, Alexey Miller got a job as an economist at LenNIIproekt, but the relationship with the team did not work out.
Miller kept his head down in "Club of Young Economists". According to the recollections of the “young reformers,” Miller listened there more than spoke and was considered perhaps the weakest link in Chubais’ team. But when Chubais needed personnel, Miller was not forgotten.
He was offered a vacancy in the city committee for external relations, which in those years was headed by Vladimir Putin. At first, Miller was the deputy head of the department, then his boss, then Putin’s deputy. Then he was a dim young man, containing a certain mystery and secrecy.
Miller was also invisible at meetings of the North-West Center for Strategic Research Foundation. Yakunina or Kovalchuk, did not rant or speak, although it was clear that he was close to this circle.
For Putin, he was, first of all, a working person, reliable, someone you can rely on. Indeed, former colleagues confirm that Miller could work 16 hours a day if necessary.
People who worked with Alexey Miller at Smolny recall: " He always said hello and smiled." "Not a bad official, it is noticeable that he is a careerist, although he behaved modestly, always in the shadows. You know, the kind who "sounds bigger than it seems"". (Izvestia, 2001).
One of former colleagues Miller on KVS said: " Alexey is very efficient and obedient. He does what he is told to do. There is nothing bad to say about him, but nothing good either. He does not have his own opinion and is very convenient to deal with some other “Media Bridge”. But Miller won’t dare steal from him. Unless it's for yourself". ("Vedomosti", 2001.)
In 2005, a criminal case was opened regarding the theft of money from "Mezhregiongaz", 100% subsidiary of Gazprom. The essence of the fraud is that smaller companies also produce gas, but it can only be sold to Gazprom, since it has a pipe, the essence of the criminal case was explained to Sobesednik Alexey Navalny.
"However, Gazprom people say, for example, to Novatek: “We can only buy half.” The next day, an unknown company, Trustinvestgaz (TIG), comes to Novatek and offers to buy the remaining half at the same price that Gazprom itself charges - 500 rubles per thousand cubic meters. And a day later, Gazprom buys all this gas from TIG for 915 rubles, although two days ago it refused to take 500. After which the gas is given to the end consumer for 1000 rubles, but Gazprom no longer makes 100% of it, but just a little bit".
Navalny does not rule out that in this way “effective managers” from Gazprom, simply moving pieces of paper around the table, earned 1.5 billion rubles. Only on this episode!
"According to the documents, the money was transferred to the Baltic states and cashed there,” Navalny explained. - Only through one of dozens of companies 293 million rubles were pumped. But there are other episodes of the case. I think there are at least a thousand similar companies involved in this fraud, including different countries. Imagine how much money!".
However, the head of Gazprom himself has avoided charges of fraud, at least for now.
Place of birth, education. A native of Leningrad. In 1984 he graduated from the Leningrad Financial and Economic Institute (LFEI) named after N. Voznesensky. In 1986, he entered the graduate school of the LFEI, and after defending his dissertation in 1989, he was awarded the degree of Candidate of Economic Sciences.
Career. After graduating from the institute (before entering graduate school), A. Miller worked as an engineer-economist in the master plan workshop of the Leningrad Research and Design Institute for Housing and Civil Construction "LenNIIproekt".
In 1990, he was hired as a junior researcher at LFEI. In the same year, he headed a subsection of the Committee on Economic Reform of the Executive Committee of the Leningrad City Council.
1991-1996 - work in the committee for external relations of the St. Petersburg mayor's office (the head of the committee was who later became the President of the Russian Federation). Headed the market conditions department of the Department of Foreign Economic Relations. Later he served as head of the department and deputy chairman of the committee.
In 1996-1999 A. Miller - Director for Development and Investments of OAO Sea Port of St. Petersburg. In 1999-2000 - General Director of OAO Baltic Pipeline System.
In 2000, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation.
In 2001, he took over the post of Chairman of the Board (replaced). A year later, he was added to the post of Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gazprom (the head of the board at that time was the First Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, and now the President of the Russian Federation).
Views and assessments. A. Miller (like his former and current patrons on the Gazprom board of directors) is a member of an influential team of immigrants from St. Petersburg, which has thoroughly strengthened its position in the political and economic leadership of Russia after V. Putin came to power.
A. Miller assures that Gazprom produces exactly as much gas as consumers need, and if they need more, they will produce more. “When we see how quickly reserves are being depleted in the world's traditional production regions, in an environment where energy is becoming the currency of the future, Russia can look confidently to its future,” he says. At the same time, according to independent experts, due to the increase in gas consumption and the lagging production capacity of Gazprom, despite huge fuel reserves, the Russian Federation may soon face a gas shortage for its own needs and call into question its uninterrupted supply for export .
A. Miller never tires of repeating that the company he heads is reaching out to all the republics former USSR to understandable, transparent market principles work based on the global hydrocarbon price environment. At the same time, in gas relations between Russia and Ukraine long time featured an opaque and largely mysterious intermediary structure, the owners of which were an equally mysterious Ukrainian billionaire and Gazprom itself.
Sanctions. April 62018 included in the sanctions listUSAincluding 17 government members and 7 businessmen from Russia.
Awards. Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" IV class, Medal of the Order "3a Merit to the Fatherland" II class, Order of the Cross of the Hungarian Republic II class. for merits in energy cooperation, Order of “St. Mesrop Mashtots” (Republic of Armenia), Order of “Dostyk” (“Friendship”) II class. (The Republic of Kazakhstan).
Income. In 2012, he took 2nd place in the list of the most expensive managers in Russia according to Forbes with an income of $25 million. In 2013, he took 3rd place in the list of the most expensive managers in Russia with the same income of $25 million per year. In 2014 - 2nd place and $25 million. In 2015, he became the highest paid top manager in Russia with an income of $27 million. He is the owner of 0.000958% of Gazprom shares. At the end of 2016, he topped the Forbes ranking of the most valuable executives of Russian companies with an income of $17.7 million.
About company. Russian OJSC Gazprom is the largest gas company in the world. The main activities are geological exploration, production, transportation, storage, processing and sales of gas and other hydrocarbons. The state is the owner controlling stake shares of Gazprom - 50.002%.
The company has the world's richest reserves natural gas. Its share in world gas reserves is 17%, in Russian - 60%. Gazprom's gas reserves are estimated at 29.1 trillion. cubic meters, and their current value is $138.6 billion. In 2005, the increase in the volume of proven gas reserves significantly exceeded the volume of its production and amounted to 583.4 billion cubic meters. Gazprom accounts for about 20% of global and about 90% of Russian gas production.
Childhood, youth and family of Alexey Miller
Now a successful top manager, chairman of the board of the largest Russian energy company, he was born in Leningrad into a family of employees of a closed military enterprise. Miller studied at gymnasium No. 330, with early years demonstrating excellent academic performance. After school, he easily entered the Leningrad Financial and Economic Institute. N.A. Voznesensky, who successfully graduated in 1984 with a degree in economics and engineering.For several years after receiving his diploma, Miller worked in his specialty at LenNIIproekt, however, being a capable student, in 1986 the future Gazprom employee decided to continue his studies in graduate school. In 1989 Miller became a candidate of economic sciences.
In 1990, he continued his work at LenNIIproekt, where he now holds the position of junior researcher. Part of 1990 and early 1991 - Miller works on the Economic Reform Committee of the Lensovet Executive Committee.
Alexey Miller’s career rise: from St. Petersburg mayor’s office to Gazprom
In 1991, a fateful acquaintance took place for Alexei Borisovich. This year he began his work in the Committee for External Relations of the St. Petersburg City Hall, where the current President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin held the position of his head. Miller worked on the Committee for five years. During this time, the organization managed to establish contacts with the largest Western banks.Alexey Miller (OJSC Gazprom) in the oncoming lane. A593MR 97
The change of power forced Alexei Miller to leave his home. Having risen high through the ranks of the External Relations Committee, Miller became a sought-after candidate for senior positions in major Russian companies. His new place of work was the company OJSC Sea Port of St. Petersburg, where Alexey Miller worked for three years.
Since 1999, the successful top manager took the place of general director at OJSC Baltic Pipeline System.
According to the results of the Russian elections in 2000, Vladimir Putin occupied the presidency. Following his former boss, his former subordinate Alexey Miller also moved to the capital. He was appointed to the post of Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, but remained in office for only a year.
In 2001, Miller became chairman of the board of Gazprom. The dismissal of Rem Vyakhirev, who served as chairman for almost ten years, promises the largest energy organization rapid reforms, which were not long in coming. From this moment, Gazprom becomes completely controlled by the state, and work begins to return assets lost during Vyakhirev’s rule.
Alexey Miller: crests are messing with Russian gas
In 2002, Alexey Miller became Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of OJSC Gazprom. By this time, the organization had undergone major personnel changes. Being far from the energy sector, Miller needed people for whom this field was not alien. A number of leadership positions went to people with whom the new chairman of the board had already worked; other appointments came from the Kremlin; some members of Vyakhirev’s team managed to retain their posts.
However, despite the reforms carried out, gossips foreshadowed Miller's imminent resignation. The beginning of his work was not active enough, and, according to some experts, the personnel changes that began should have ended with the resignation of the new leader. No matter what rumors circulate, and no matter what is whispered about on the sidelines, Alexey Miller has firmly strengthened his position. By 2004, the formation of a renewed management apparatus came to an end. In 2006, Miller's work contract was extended for another five years.
No matter how controversial and dubious the start may seem, Alexey Miller achieved good results as chairman of the board. In 2010, the American magazine Harvard Business Review ranked Miller third in the ranking of the world's most effective top managers. In 2013, the chairman of the board of OJSC Gazprom took third place in the Forbes list, and was named one of the most expensive Russian managers.
Personal life of Alexey Miller
Alexey Miller is a busy man, which is why he doesn’t have time to communicate with journalists, so the few interviews with the head of Gazprom are devoted mainly to the work of the company, its prospects and development. Miller prefers not to talk about his personal life, but it is known that he has been married for many years.He and his wife Irina are raising a son. The top manager prefers to spend his free time with his family. He is no stranger to sports hobbies, such as cycling and skiing. Miller is also passionate about equestrian sports.
He owns several thoroughbred stallions. However, like any business person, Miller’s hobby turned into an active labor activity. In 2012, he assumed the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors of OJSC Russian Hippodromes. According to the presidential decree, Alexey Miller faces the responsible and difficult task of breathing life into domestic equestrian sport and contributing to the revival of the industry.
In 2016, the entrepreneur admitted that as a child he passionately wanted to go to the concert of his beloved Deep Purple. It was impossible then, so now he attends every performance of his youth idols whenever possible.
Alexey Miller today
In 2016, Alexey Miller for the first time topped the ranking of the highest paid top managers, presented by Forbes. His annual remuneration was estimated at $17.7 million.Alexey Borisovich Miller (January 31, 1962, Leningrad) - Russian economist, chairman of the board of Gazprom.
Education
He received his secondary education at school-gymnasium No. 330 (Leningrad), from which he graduated with honors.
1984 – graduated from the Leningrad Financial and Economic Institute. He was one of the Leningrad economists-reformers, whose leader was A. Chubais.
Alexey Miller is a Candidate of Economic Sciences.
Professional activity
1984-1986 - was an engineer-economist at LenNIIproekt. Soon he became a graduate student here.
1990 - becomes junior research fellow LenNIIproekt;
1990-1991 - works on the Committee responsible for economic reform Executive Committee of the Leningrad City Council.
1991-1996 - works in the Committee for External Relations of the St. Petersburg City Hall, where he holds the post of deputy chairman. It is worth mentioning that the chairman of this Committee was V. Putin. Under the leadership of the future president, Miller was involved in the development of investment zones in St. Petersburg, namely Pulkovo (the Gillette and Coca-Cola factories were built here) and Parnas (the buildings of the Baltika brewing company were built). In addition, he brought the first foreign banks to St. Petersburg (Lyon Credit, Dresden Bank).
1996-1999 - holds the post of director for investment and development of the seaport of St. Petersburg.
1999-2000 - is the general director of the Baltic Pipeline System company.
2000-2001 - holds the position of Deputy Minister of Energy of Russia.
2001 - becomes chairman of the board of Gazprom. The press characterized this appointment as Putin’s desire to completely control the gas empire. Miller, in turn, stated that he intends to strengthen the role of the state in Gazprom.
2002 - became deputy chairman of the board of directors of Gazprom. In addition, he heads the boards of directors of Gazfond, Gazprombank, Gazpromneft and SOGAZ.
2012 - becomes chairman of the board of directors of the Russian Hippodromes company.
In 2012, Forbes compiled a list of the highest paid Russian top managers, in which Miller took second position. The publication estimates that he earned about $25 million in one year.
Family status
Alexey Miller and his wife Irina are raising their son Mikhail. Personal life is not discussed. Tries to spend his free time in quiet family circle.
According to Alexey Miller, business is something between war and art. Some of Miller’s colleagues are confident that he achieved success thanks to his diligence and hard work. According to Alexey Borisovich himself, he always tries to achieve his goal, to believe in himself and his partners.
As soon as A. Miller took up an important post at Gazprom, they began to speak about him as follows:
- “His main advantage is his ability to bow”;
- “Walks along the wall”;
- “Arrogant, complex, touchy, unpleasant to talk to”;
- "Zero Manager";
- "Prepared figure";
- “He lives like a shadow and serves like a shadow.”
However, in 2010 A. Miller took 3rd position in the list of the best top managers in the world. This list was published by the Harvard Business Review. CEO performance was measured by shareholder returns.
Miller is annoyed by buffets, banquets and noisy companies. His hobbies include playing the guitar and riding alpine skiing. In addition, he owns 2 stallions – Fragrant and Vesely. The latter took a prize in one of the races at the Moscow Hippodrome in 2012. In turn, Fragrant came to the finish line first 7 times, and was a prize-winner 12 times.
Alexey Miller is vice-president of the Russian Football Union. He is a fan of Zenit.
Advice from Alexey Miller: “Dreaming is useful! After all, what is planned can become reality.”
More than 129 billion rubles passed through the companies of relatives of Gazprom top managers in 2010-2012
Thirteen years ago, Alexey Miller replaced Gazprom instead of Rem Vyakhirev. Then the company declared one of its tasks to fight nepotism. Years later, no less than the concern’s money passes through companies associated with relatives of its top managers.
What did the current management of Gazprom fight for when in the early 2000s they took away assets and Gazprom contracts from the relatives of the former heads of the concern [Rem Vyakhirev and Viktor Chernomyrdin], asks one of the former top managers of Gazprom. “This was called the “fight against the legacy” of Vyakhirev. 13 years have passed - “heritage” has won over everyone. Again, relatives and acquaintances in the Gazprom business, but this is already relatives of the current leaders,” states Vedomosti’s interlocutor.
Indeed, in November 2001, having awarded the retiring Vyakhirev the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree, in Novy Urengoy, Russian President Vladimir Putin immediately after the ceremony began instructing his replacement, Alexei Miller, on how to deal with Vyakhirev’s legacy: the main thing is to ensure that nothing was stolen.
“Putin understood how important Gazprom was for his power; he wanted to control it, get rid of everything superfluous and strengthen it. He was irritated by the “Vyakhirev collective farms,” non-market prices for exported gas and incomprehensible intermediaries and contractors,” recalls one of the former Gazprom executives. The children of Vyakhirev and Chernomyrdin were co-owners of Gazprom's monopoly construction contractor, the Stroytransgaz company, and Vyakhirev's son Yuri headed Gazprom's export subsidiary, Gazexport.
Miller was entrusted with restoring order. “Miller worked as Vladimir Putin’s deputy in the external relations committee of the St. Petersburg mayor’s office, they know each other well and are close in spirit. Miller never focused on himself, he just did his job,” Miller’s acquaintance shares his opinion.
What happened? Vedomosti found that there were no fewer Gazprom contractors and intermediaries associated with relatives of its top managers. The cash flow passing through the companies of these relatives has not decreased either. True, gas prices and, as a consequence, Gazprom’s revenue and its investment program have also increased significantly since then.
From the old team to the new
In 2001-2002 At Miller’s invitation, Elena Kasyan, who now holds the position of head of the company’s personnel management department, and Andrey Kruglov, now deputy chairman of the board and head of the financial and economic department, came to Gazprom. In 2004, Kruglov became the chief financier of Gazprom. He is considered one of Miller's trusted people. They were once introduced by Matthias Warnig, a former agent of the East German state security service Stasi and an old friend of Putin, one of the former Gazprom executives told Vedomosti. Warnig worked at Dresdner Bank in the early 1990s and created a joint venture in Russia, Dresdner and Bank Nationale de Paris (BNP - Dresdner Bank), where Kruglov began working as an inspector of the international operations department in 1994. In 1995, he left as chief a specialist in the external relations committee of the St. Petersburg mayor's office, having worked under the leadership of Putin, who then headed the committee.
Kasyan is called Miller’s cousin, and Kruglov is his relative on his wife’s side, two people close to Gazprom heard. Miller denies this. “This is just nonsense,” he told Vedomosti through a representative. Kruglov and Kasyan did not respond to requests from Vedomosti.
From daughter to son
Having become a member of the board of Gazprom in 2002, Kruglov in 2004 headed the board of directors of Tsentrenergogaz, a Gazprom subsidiary responsible for major repairs and reconstruction of its facilities. At the same time, its general director also changed - this position was taken by St. Petersburg banker Dmitry Doev, co-owner of Sevzapinvestprombank. People close to him say that banker Doev and financier Kruglov have known each other for a long time.
In 2002-2003 Gazprom has a new construction contractor - the VIS production company (PF VIS), registered in Gatchina. She began to carry out work for Astrakhangazprom and Orenburggazprom. And at the end of the summer of 2004, it received a large contract for the reconstruction of the Orenburg helium plant. Since that time, Gazprom enterprises have become the main customers of PF VIS. Thanks to cooperation with the gas corporation, the small company turned into one of the largest Russian engineering and construction groups. Her revenue increased by 1000 one more time. According to the company, if in 2003 this figure was only 20 million rubles, then at the end of 2013 it exceeded 25 billion rubles. The company's net profit last year amounted to 568 million rubles, the order portfolio until 2020 exceeds 150 billion rubles.
This result puts it in fifth place among the largest infrastructure builders in Russia - after Mostotrest, Inzhtransstroy Corporation, NPO Mostovik and ARKS Corporation. But all these companies suffered due to the crisis in the industry: Mostovik is going bankrupt, Inzhtransstroy is being liquidated, employees of Mostovik and ARKS are complaining about a decrease in profits due to the completion of large projects and a general decrease in profitability. But PF VIS, in a presentation on its website, reports that its revenue and portfolio of orders are only growing.
The group now unites 10 construction and engineering companies employing 2,000 people, according to its presentation. The largest projects that the company carries out for Gazprom are the reconstruction of the Orenburg gas processing plant, the construction of the Novy Urengoy gas chemical complex, the reconstruction of compressor stations and administrative complexes.
However, the interests of PF VIS are no longer limited to contracts from Gazprom and its companies. She also built infrastructure facilities for the Winter Olympics in Sochi, performed work for JSC System Operator UES, modernized the Kirishi and Ryazan State District Power Plants, and also improved embankments in Astrakhan and Yaroslavl. However, Gazprom was also an investor in the improvement of the embankments.
PF VIS is also notable for the fact that it is one of the few Gazprom contractors whose loans it guarantees. In 2010, when PF VIS helped Gazprom build a ski complex in Sochi, it received guarantees for a VTB loan for 16 billion rubles. And in 2012 and at the end of 2013 - by 2.507 billion and 8.164 billion rubles. accordingly - secured by a credit line from Sberbank . The funds were needed for the construction of industrial facilities for Gazprom. Moreover, if previously Gazprom also vouched for other companies, for example, under the credit line of a pipe trader owned by Arkady Rotenberg, then in the monopoly’s IFRS reporting for 2012-2013. There are no other recipients of this type of support, except for the VIS Pension Fund.
Both under Rem Vyakhirev (pictured on the right) and under Alexey Miller (on the left), Gazprom’s top managers had successful relatives and businessmen. Photo: PhotoXPress
Vedomosti was unable to find out the beneficiaries of the VIS PF. The company is owned by three offshore companies from the British Virgin Islands and a company from Switzerland. Their owners are not disclosed. But the board of directors of PF VIS includes three of Doev’s partners in Sevzapinvestprombank - Igor Snegurov, Alexander Zamyatin and Pyotr Ilyin. And the general director of PF VIS Sergei Palkin is the son of the first deputy general director of Tsentrenergogaz Sergei Palkin. Palkin Sr. also became Doev’s first deputy in the holding company Gazprom Tsentrremont, which organizes maintenance and repair of Gazprom’s facilities.
Doev and the representative of Gazprom Tsentrremont did not answer Vedomosti’s questions. A representative of the PF VIS declined to comment.
“There are many players around state-controlled companies who may have certain relationships with the current management of these state-owned companies. The success of such players is largely related to what positions and opportunities their contacts have in these government agencies. They can increase the volume of business in a short period of time. But all this is connected with certain people in state-owned companies. And if they leave successful business may end just as quickly,” says BCS analyst Igor Kraevsky.
From granddaughter to brother
In February 2014, Gazprom’s “granddaughter” - Gazprom Gas Distribution - sold 12.5% of Rossiya Bank, the main owner of which is Putin’s longtime acquaintance Yuri Kovalchuk. The buyers were two Moscow companies - Overpass-Invest and Oberon Estate. The first got 5.396%, the second - 7.086%. Oberon Estate is controlled by 30-year-old St. Petersburg resident Ivan Mironov. He also owns 1% in Overpas-invest, 99% of this company is owned by his friend, 32-year-old Tatyana Svitova.
Svitova is the daughter of Elena Svitova, senior vice president of Rossiya Bank. And Mironov is the half-brother of Gazprom board member Kirill Seleznev (this was reported in the spring by “ New Newspaper"). Seleznev confirmed to Vedomosti that Mironov is his half-brother. He also said that he has known Miller for more than 13 years. In fact, we have known each other for at least 15 years. Seleznev and Miller worked together at the Sea Port of St. Petersburg (Miller left there in 1999) and at the Baltic Pipeline System. Seleznev came to Gazprom in 2001 at the age of 27 to the position of deputy chief of staff of the board - Miller's assistant. An acquaintance of the Gazprom board of directors says that he values Seleznev very much. A few years ago, he spoke of his subordinate as a talented employee with a great future, says Vedomosti’s interlocutor.
Neither Seleznev nor the representative of Rossiya Bank announced the amount of the transaction. In February 2014, before American sanctions against “Russia,” 12% of its shares could have been worth about 3.5 billion rubles, says Maxim Vasin, a senior analyst at the National Rating Agency. True, he clarifies that the real price of the transaction could depend on its conditions and the interests of the parties: “the seller - in a speedy sale, the buyer - in joining the club of co-owners of the bank.” Now Mironov and Svitova have become the largest co-owners of Rossiya Bank after Kovalchuk’s structures.
Where could Mironov and Svitova get the money for such a purchase? Mironov works as deputy general director of the St. Petersburg company Expoforum-International, which manages the Lenexpo exhibition complex, which hosts the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. And companies associated with him are listed as co-owners of companies that provide services to Gazprom enterprises (see inset). The total revenue of these companies is about 100 billion rubles. (hereinafter SPARK data).
You can contact Mironov by phone via the Expoforum-International switchboard. True, he refused to talk about his business. "I can't comment on anything.<…>I’m far from all this,” Mironov told Vedomosti.
“The bank has fulfilled all the necessary conditions and procedures within the framework of current legislation,” its representative answered the question whether the source of funds for which the bank’s stake was purchased was verified.
However, two former top managers of Gazprom believe that owning a 12% stake in the “bank of Putin’s friends” is not at all the level of the brother of a Gazprom board member, or even the level of the board member himself. “Theoretically, such a purchase can only correspond to the level of a long-time acquaintance of Putin, who has earned the right to enter the close circle of the president, that is, Miller himself,” one of the former Gazprom executives shares his opinion.
Registering assets in the name of a trustee is a very delicate point, experts say. “It is common practice for this person to write a will - to whom the asset should go in the event of death. True, such a will can be rewritten at any time and no one will know about it. This means, theoretically, such relationships can only arise with conceptual agreements and complete trust,” explains Paragon Advice Group partner Alexander Zakharov.
For the Gazprom structure, the stake in Rossiya Bank was non-core and “a decision was made to sell the bank’s shares at market value in compliance with all competitive procedures,” Seleznev himself told Vedomosti. And he added that he knew nothing about his brother’s business.
Roman Shleinov