Dmitry Medvedev will keep his post

One of the main internal political intrigues of the next month and a half: who Vladimir Putin will appoint as head of government after his inauguration in May. The new old president himself did everything to support the intrigue, stating immediately after the elections: "I will start thinking about the candidacy of the prime minister from today." Some observers read in these words a "sentence" to the current Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev: they say, if Putin wanted to keep him at the head of the government, then what to think about. But do not rush to conclusions: it is likely that a loyal member of the unique "tandem" at the top of Russian power will retain the second most important post in the country.

The Central Election Commission has not yet managed to properly calculate the results of the presidential elections, and guesswork on the candidacy of the future prime minister in the camp of interested observers has already flared up with might and main. By today, it is possible not only to compile a "long list" of candidates for future premieres, but even to rank them in a certain way. The first conditional group: current members of the government, counting on promotion. Here, experts most often mention First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Minister economic development Maxim Oreshkin. The second group are ladies. The best half of the candidates are represented by the chairman of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina and the head of the Accounts Chamber Tatyana Golikova. The third group - former members governments known for their proximity to the first person. In this row - the head of the CSR Alexei Kudrin, the head of "Rosneft" Igor Sechin, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev. The fourth block is "dark horses" or "technical premieres". In this row are the names of the current head of the Kremlin administration Anton Vaino, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, presidential aide for economic issues Andrey Belousov. In this regard, political scientists recall the experience of “early” Putin from the beginning of the “zero”, when people not from the first political rank were recruited to the head of the government, to the surprise of all experts - Mikhail Kasyanov, Viktor Zubkov, Mikhail Fradkov.

Nevertheless, we dare to suggest that all the current searches for candidates and the "casting" of candidates for prime minister are empty chores. There is a high probability that the current "owner" of the White House will safely retain his post. Putin's words about thinking about the candidacy of the prime minister may well be of a ritual nature. As you know, the current government is destined by law to relinquish its powers before the newly elected head of state, which means that the latter, willy-nilly, should think about a new cabinet of ministers and its chairman. But this does not at all prevent the president from saying something like this after the inauguration: “I carefully thought everything over, weighed it, held consultations, and came to the unequivocal conclusion that at this stage there is no better candidate than Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev.”

And, I must say, there are many arguments in favor of such a scenario. First, so far Vladimir Putin has not expressed, at least publicly, any hard claims against the work of the government under the leadership of Medvedev. Yes, in 2014-2016 the country experienced a serious economic crisis, but it was caused not by failures of the executive branch, but by geopolitical reasons and a dramatic drop in oil prices. To date, the government, albeit not without difficulty, but taxied to the trajectory of economic growth. In addition, it actively participates in the OPEC + agreement, thereby influencing to the best of its ability on unpredictable oil prices and maintaining them at a level that is quite beneficial for the country.

Secondly, the change of prime minister is appropriate in the presence of a powerful demand for a change in the economic course. On the eve of 20189, a number of experts, by the way, predicted such a scenario. They say that Alexei Kudrin, on the instructions of the president, is developing a new strategy for the development of the country, Putin will take it into service, and after the elections he will instruct Kudrin to carry it out as prime minister. But the scenario did not work: Kudrin's strategy has not yet been made public, the most poignant and reformist proposals from the ex-minister of finance, such as a mandatory increase in the retirement age, do not cause much enthusiasm either in the authorities or in society. Observers also note that two days before the election, Putin gave instructions to the government following his address to the Federal Assembly, which are quite populist in nature: to increase economic growth by one and a half times, to reduce poverty by half, and so on. It is unlikely that such tasks can be solved within the framework of the unpopular reformist steps proposed by Kudrin. So, most likely, the latter is not destined to leave the “bench”, which he has been “polishing” since his resignation from the government during the Medvedev presidency.

Thirdly, Dmitry Medvedev has a unique leadership experience acquired in the “Putin era”: he had the opportunity to work not only as the head of the administration, first deputy prime minister and prime minister, but also as the president himself. Along the way, he acquired not only invaluable managerial experience, but also proved his absolute devotion to the first person. Why look for good from good and start a radical shake-up of the executive branch, risking paralyzing its work for at least six months? Head of the direction "Finance and Economics" of the Institute modern development Nikita Maslennikov believes that the future prime minister should understand the structural agenda, be able to work in the designated areas, have serious knowledge in the field of finance and monetary policy, be respected in the expert community and business circles, be able to discuss, argue their point of view and conduct a dialogue . According to the expert, Dmitry Medvedev possesses all these qualities.

True, opponents of the current Kremlin authorities consider Medvedev a weak prime minister and a dependent figure. Moreover, even ardent admirers of Vladimir Putin allow themselves public criticism of him personally and the cabinet of ministers he heads. But in the eyes of the latter, this could just be some kind of additional plus: as Nikita Isaev, director of the Institute of Contemporary Economics, explained to MK, the prime minister plays the role of a kind of "lightning rod" to maintain a positive image of the head of state.

Finally, there is the factor of future succession: as the outgoing Boris Yeltsin did in his time, Vladimir Putin can, in his last term, run in the chair of the prime minister to whom he will transfer the reins of government of the country in 6 years. But firstly, it is clearly too early to start such a casting now: a false start may come out. And secondly, who said that Dmitry Medvedev would not become the successor of the outgoing Putin?

Collage: The New Times

Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin during his time in power created an "empire" with a capital of 130 billion dollars. According to Western media, the so-called "Putin clan" is in first place in the ranking of the richest families in the world. His fortune is $56 billion more than the capital of the official leader of the Forbes magazine rating, Carlos Slim Elu. The prime minister's "family business" includes his nephews Mikhail Putin and Mikhail Shelomov, Vladimir Putin's wife Lyudmila, and his brother Igor - each of them is directly related to major financial structures.

According to the British newspaper The Sunday Times and the Czech Lidové noviny, Prime Minister and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin has built a $130 billion empire during his time in office. The Czech newspaper gives the so-called "Vladimir Putin's clan" the first place in the ranking of the richest families in the world.

financial empire

At the same time, the fortune of the Russian prime minister and his family exceeds the figure of 130 billion dollars, which is 56 billion more than that of the official leader of the Forbes magazine rating, Carlos Slim Elu, the owner of the communications industry with a total value of 74 billion dollars.

According to the British and Czech publications, the companies owned by the "Putin clan" do not belong to the state, but Putin's voice is decisive in both administrative and financial matters.

The media write that the Russian prime minister successfully combined his political and business activities during his entire stay in power. He managed to create a financial empire, in the management of which he attracted most of his relatives and friends. So, the family business includes Putin's nephews Mikhail Putin and Mikhail Shelomov, Vladimir Putin's wife Lyudmila, his brother Igor, each of whom is directly related to large financial structures (suffice it to recall Rossiya Bank). The Czech source emphasizes that all Putin's relatives are surprisingly successful in business and succeed in whatever they undertake.

According to Czech and British newspapers, one of the reasons for Vladimir Putin's decision to run for president was his desire to maintain control over the empire he created, which also allows the largest media outlets to dictate their terms, regardless of whether they are owned by the state or private individuals.

Vertically integrated holding

By the way, the Russian press has repeatedly written about the wealth of the “Putin clan”. One of the last such materials was published in October last year in The New Times magazine. In the article, the publication claims that the Russian prime minister, and in the past (and, apparently, in the future) the president, built a corporate state in Russia, in which he himself is the executive director.

According to the data given in the article, the "Putin clan" currently controls assets worth from 4.5 to 6.8 trillion rubles - this is 10-15% of Russia's total annual GDP. In fact, a vertically integrated holding has been created in the vastness of the country, the newspaper notes: credit organizations, providing working capital, their cache factories pumping oil and gas from the ground, their pipeline systems, their transport of all possible types, their structures that provide security and weapons for it, their own communications, their own social network, their services, including media, and their instruments of political control in the form of "parliament" and "CEC". And this whole system is closed, in fact, to one person: Vladimir Putin.

The publication recalls that just a few days after taking office as president of the Russian Federation in May 2000, Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the creation of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Rosspirtprom, to which state stakes in 70 alcohol industry enterprises were transferred, including largest distilleries in the country.

The head of the new structure was approved by a man with a little-speaking surname - Sergey Zivenko (now heads the Kaluga vodka trade and industrial group "Crystal"). Zivenko was said to have been a protege of a close friend of Putin since childhood, the founder of the Yavara-Neva sports club (the club was created in partnership with Putin and Gennady Timchenko), judo lover and St. Petersburg businessman Arkady Rotenberg. It was a time when oil was still cheap and alcohol was one of the most important suppliers of cash in the country: thus the first important federal financial flow was brought under the control of the clan.

“I then called Kudrin ( former minister Finance of the Russian Federation to Alexei Kudrin - approx.) and asked him: "Do you know anything about this (the decree on the creation of Rosspirtprom")? He said, "No," Andrey Illarionov, Putin's economic adviser at the time, told The New Times.

German Gref, who at that time held the post of head of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, did not know anything about the decree, signed just a few days after the inauguration.

“Before that,” Illarionov continues, “all issues that had anything to do with the economy, almost on a daily basis, to the smallest detail, were discussed by Putin with the participation of the three of us.” “Soon I realized: for Putin, there are non-overlapping groups of people — relatively speaking, “a group of the economy” and “people of business.” With one group - Kudrin, Gref, me - Putin discussed general economic issues, with the help of another - he established control over property and financial flows, ”concludes Illarionov.

Rosspirtprom was followed by Gazprom: in June 2000, that is, a month after the inauguration, Putin appointed Dmitry Medvedev and Alexey Miller.

According to a former adviser to Putin, practically the only official who was part of both groups - both the one that discussed the budget, customs duties, reserves, the creation of a stabilization fund, and the one that put financial flows under control - was Igor Sechin, permanent adjutant Putin and in the mayor's office of St. Petersburg, and in the Kremlin, and in the government.

The next object of interest for "business people" was, of course, oil. But in order to take this very tidbit, which was then in the possession of those who were commonly called the "Family" (Boris Yeltsin's close circle and the oligarchs authorized by him), it was necessary first to clear the clearing.

Elite Purge

According to the sociologist Olga Kryshtanovskaya, who heads the Center for the Study of the Elite of the Russian Academy of Sciences, by the end of Vladimir Putin's second presidential term (spring 2008), his people took control of almost all commanding heights and, in public administration and in the most important sectors of the economy.

"Putin's" nominees made up more than 80% of the country's leading corps (presidential structures, government plus governors). The main suppliers of personnel were the Soviet law enforcement agencies: the KGB, the GRU, the army, the Ministry of Internal Affairs - "people in uniform" occupied 42.3% of the offices of the supreme power, half of this number came from the most repressive institution of the USSR - the KGB and its successor, the FSB. Putin followed a simple principle well known from the history of authoritarian Latin American regimes: belonging to a corporation (KGB), loyalty to it, is more important than anything else, including professional skills and education. Exactly the same motive lay in the mass relocation of St. Petersburg officials and businessmen to the capital: 25.6% of top officials belonged to the "St. Petersburg community", as Kryshtanovskaya defines them.

However, the capture of command heights took time.

Three equally important processes were going on in parallel. The first - a complete reformatting of the political field and building a vertical of power - began with the decree of the President of the Russian Federation of May 13, 2000 on the creation of the institution of presidential envoys in the regions and ended with the liquidation of the institution of gubernatorial elections on December 11, 2004. At the same time, a barrier was introduced to holding referendums, the creation of new political parties and the possibility of parliamentary elections of candidates (single-members) independent of the Kremlin-controlled parties.

The second process was associated with the removal of representatives of the Yeltsin elite from the highest bodies of state administration and state-controlled businesses.

Andrey Illarionov believes that already by 2003, "people in uniform" managed to almost completely oust the "Family" from power, and by 2008 - those whom he refers to the clan of "economists", that is, people who somehow controlled financial flows in the nineties.

Significant in this process were the resignations of Alexander Voloshin (head of the presidential administration in 1999-2003), Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov (2000-2004) and the liquidation of RAO UES headed by Anatoly Chubais in 2008.

The third process has already dealt directly with the "great redistribution" - property. The Yeltsin elite quite easily surrendered the main media oligarchs, Boris Berezovsky (ORT channel, now Pervy) and Vladimir Gusinsky (NTV) - without which neither the power nor the financial redistribution would be possible. This was followed by attacks on structures one way or another tied to Gazprom, the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, landmark checks in the companies of the “Yeltsin oligarchs”. In January 2003, 66 of the country's largest companies (from Russian Railways to Zarubezhneft and Aeroflot, from RAO UES to defense industry enterprises), in which controlling stakes belonged to the state, come under Putin's direct control, and the boards of directors of these companies include people his clan.

Nothing personal

Illarionov believes that the regime that has developed in Russia today should not be properly called a "corporate state" - an allusion to Benito Mussolini's Italy, but "corporatist", which he gives the following definition: " hallmark it is the systematic redistribution and appropriation by non-economic methods of significant economic resources by stable groups of persons (corporations) that are at the helm political power as well as their allies."

At the same time, four main sectors of the economy were chosen as the main areas of impact on business: finance (banks, Insurance companies, pension funds plus supervisory authorities that ensure the movement of capital and goods across the state border), the fuel and energy complex (from oil pumping towers to wagons and pipes and trading companies), the military-industrial complex, infrastructure enterprises - from transport to various kinds of communications.

A classic example of this is the expansion of Rossiya Bank, owned by members of the well-known dacha cooperative"Lake". Created by a secret decree of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU in June 1990, this bank 14 years later, in 2004, took only 74th place in the banking rating with assets of 10.3 billion rubles (in 2000 - 1.7 billion rubles) . This did not prevent him from becoming (in the summer of 2004) a co-owner of Sogaz (assets in 2004 - 3.6 billion rubles, in 2011 - 91.8 billion rubles) - the insurer of all divisions of the state monopoly Gazprom; buy management company"Leader" (summer 2006, assets - 167.71 billion rubles), to form the "National Media Group" (from the TV channels REN TV and STS to the advertising holding "Video International" and the newspaper "Izvestia").

Today, the assets of Rossiya Bank are estimated at 279 billion rubles, and the chairman of the board of directors of the bank, one of the Kovalchuk brothers, Yuri, ranks 65th in the Russian Forbes list with a capital of $1.5 billion.

Other friends, colleagues and colleagues of Putin were just as lucky: oil trader Gennady Timchenko, a close "acquaintance" of Putin since the early nineties, in 2011 took 26th place in the Russian Forbes list with a capital of $ 5.5 billion (in 2010 th, his fortune was estimated three times less - $ 1.9 billion.) And Arkady Rotenberg - 92nd with a fortune of $ 1.1 billion, the publication concludes.

According to materials:

Where is Russia under Putin? in world rankings.

Putin and friends divided the country

Corporation "Russia". Exactly 8 years ago, a special operation took place at Tolmachevo Airport in Novosibirsk, which finally turned the vector of the country's movement. Late in the evening of October 25, 2003, the FSB special forces seized the personal plane of the head of the largest oil company in the country, Yukos, and then the richest man in Russia, Mikhail Khodorkovsky (his fortune was estimated at $ 14 billion). Thus, with a single blow, Vladimir Putin destroyed both the alternative center of power, and the main sponsor of the political opposition, and the barrier to the capture of the country's main raw materials by representatives of the siloviki clan. Having removed the systemic opponent, Putin began the construction of the corporate state “Russia, Inc.”. About the results - in the main topic of the issue of The New Times

In 1997, Deputy Head of Presidential Administration Boris Yeltsin and Head of its Main Control Department Vladimir Putin defended his Ph.D. Topic: "Strategic planning of the reproduction of the mineral resource base of the region in the conditions of the formation of market relations." Volume - 218 pages.

Then it became nothing more than a fact of the biography of an official who was just establishing himself in Moscow, in the system of federal power.

Years later, when Vladimir Putin was already completing his first term as President of the Russian Federation, the well-known American political economist Clifffor Geddy carefully read the thesis and gave his conclusion: “His (Putin’s) vision of the economy of the whole country is “Russia, Inc.”, where he himself works as an executive director.

Start of redistribution

May 7, 2000 Vladimir Putin took office as President of Russia. And a few days later he put his signature under the decree on the creation of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Rosspirtprom", to which state stakes in 70 enterprises of the alcohol industry were transferred, including stakes in the country's largest distilleries. The head of the new structure was approved by a man with a little-speaking surname - Sergey Zivenko (now heads the Kaluga vodka trade and industrial group "Crystal"). Another thing was more important: he was, as they claimed, a protege of a close friend of Putin since childhood, the founder of the Yavara-Neva sports club (the club was created on shares with Putin and Gennady Timchenko - in the diagram on pp. 6–11, see No. 49, 56, 68), judo lover and St. Petersburg businessman Arkady Rotenberg (No. 38, 47, 72). It was a time when oil was still cheap and alcohol was one of the most important suppliers of cash in the country: thus the first important federal financial flow was brought under the control of the clan. “Then I called Kudrin (since May 2000 - the Minister of Finance of Russia) and asked him: “Do you know anything about this (the decree on the creation of Rosspirtprom”)? He said, "No," Andrey Illarionov, Putin's economic adviser at the time, told The New Times. German Gref (No. 20), who at that time held the post of head of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, did not know anything about the decree, which was signed just a few days after the inauguration. “Before that,” Illarionov continues, “all issues that had anything to do with the economy, almost on a daily basis, to the smallest detail, were discussed by Putin with the participation of the three of us.” “Soon I realized: for Putin, there are non-overlapping groups of people - relatively speaking, “a group of the economy” and “people of business”. With one group - Kudrin, Gref, me - Putin discussed general economic issues, with the help of another - he established control over property and financial flows, ”concludes Illarionov.

Rosspirtprom was followed by Gazprom: in June 2000, that is, a month after the inauguration, Putin appointed Dmitry Medvedev, his former subordinates on the Committee for Foreign Economic Relations of the Administration of St. No. 2) and Alexey Miller (No. 42, 54).

According to a former adviser to Putin, practically the only official who was part of both groups - both the one that discussed the budget, customs duties, reserves, the creation of a stabilization fund, and the one that put financial flows under control - was Igor Sechin (No. 4 ), Putin's permanent adjutant in the mayor's office of St. Petersburg, and in the Kremlin, and in the government.

The next object of interest for "business people" was, of course, oil. But in order to take this very tidbit, which was then in the possession of those who were commonly called the "Family" (Boris Yeltsin's close circle and the oligarchs authorized by him), it was necessary first to clear the clearing.

Elite Purge

According to the sociologist Olga Kryshtanovskaya, who heads the Center for the Study of the Elite of the Russian Academy of Sciences, by the end of Vladimir Putin's second presidential term (spring 2008), his people took control of almost all commanding heights both in public administration and in the most important sectors of the economy.
"Putin's" nominees made up more than 80% of the country's leading corps (presidential structures, government plus governors) See O. Kryshtanovskaya's article on this topic in The New Times No. 16 of April 21, 2008. The main suppliers of personnel were the Soviet law enforcement agencies: the KGB , the GRU, the army, the Ministry of Internal Affairs - “people in uniform” (in the scheme they are highlighted in shoulder straps of state security officers - cornflower blue) occupied 42.3% of the offices of the supreme power, half of this number came from the most repressive institution of the USSR - the KGB and its successor to the FSB . Putin followed a simple principle well known from the history of authoritarian Latin American regimes: belonging to a corporation (KGB), loyalty to it, is more important than anything else, including professional skills and education. Exactly the same motive lay in the mass relocation of St. Petersburg officials and businessmen to the capital: 25.6% of top officials belonged to the "St. Petersburg community", as Kryshtanovskaya defines them.

However, the capture of command heights took time.

Three equally important processes were going on in parallel. The first - a complete reformatting of the political field and building a vertical of power - began with the decree of the President of the Russian Federation of May 13, 2000 on the creation of the institution of presidential envoys in the regions and ended with the liquidation of the institution of gubernatorial elections on December 11, 2004. At the same time, a barrier was introduced to holding referendums, the creation of new political parties and the possibility of parliamentary elections of candidates (single-members) independent of the Kremlin-controlled parties.

The second process was associated with the removal of representatives of the Yeltsin elite from the highest bodies of state administration and state-controlled businesses.

Andrey Illarionov believes that already by 2003, "people in uniform" managed to almost completely oust the "Family" from power, and by 2008 - those whom he refers to the clan of "economists", that is, people who somehow controlled financial flows in the nineties.

"With one group - Kudrin, Gref, me - Putin discussed general economic issues, with the help of another - he established control over property and financial flows"

Significant in this process were the resignations of Alexander Voloshin (head of the presidential administration in 1999-2003), Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov (2000-2004) and the liquidation of RAO UES headed by Anatoly Chubais in 2008.

The third process has already dealt directly with the "great redistribution" - property. The Yeltsin elite quite easily betrayed the main media oligarchs, Boris Berezovsky (the ORT channel, now the First channel) and Vladimir Gusinsky (NTV) - without which neither the power nor the financial redistribution would be possible. This was followed by attacks on structures one way or another tied to Gazprom, the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, landmark checks in the companies of the “Yeltsin oligarchs”. In January 2003, 66 of the country's largest companies (from Russian Railways to Zarubezhneft and Aeroflot, from RAO UES to defense enterprises), in which controlling stakes belonged to the state, come under Putin's direct control * * Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of 01.23.2003 No. 91-R., and the boards of directors of these companies include people of his clan.

Nothing personal

Illarionov believes that the regime that has developed today in Russia should not be correctly called a "corporate state" - an allusion to Benito Mussolini's Italy, but "corporatist", which he gives the following definition: "its distinctive feature is the systematic redistribution and appropriation by non-economic methods of significant economic resources stable groups of individuals (corporations) that find themselves at the helm of political power, as well as their allies. Perhaps so, although a careful reading of Mussolini's biography of one of the authors of this article made me shudder: the parallels suggest themselves. In any case, Putin's image makers clearly learned a lot of PR tricks from the Duce's biography: for example, he also liked to show his naked torso to the people subordinate to him, fly airplanes and appeal to the support of the "common people".

Putin showed business not a torso - a fist.

The four main areas of the economy were chosen as the main areas of impact: finance (banks, insurance companies, pension funds, plus supervisory authorities that ensure the movement of capital and goods across the state border), the fuel and energy complex (from oil pumping rigs to wagons and pipes and trading companies) , the military-industrial complex, infrastructure enterprises - from transport to various kinds of communications (for more details, see the diagram).

A classic example of this is the expansion of Rossiya Bank, owned by members of the well-known dacha cooperative Ozero (the place of the members of the cooperative in today's Rossiya, Inc. is highlighted in the diagram). in green). Created by a secret decree of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU in June 1990, this bank 14 years later, in 2004, took only 74th place in the banking rating with assets of 10.3 billion rubles (in 2000 - 1.7 billion rubles) . This did not prevent him from becoming (in the summer of 2004) a co-owner of Sogaz (assets in 2004 - 3.6 billion rubles, in 2011 - 91.8 billion rubles) - the insurer of all divisions of the state monopoly Gazprom; buy the management company "Leader" (summer 2006, assets - 167.71 billion rubles, owns controlling stakes in pension fund Gazfond, the Russian Railways pension fund Blagosostoyanie, Gazprombank and the SIBUR petrochemical holding), as well as to form the National Media Group (from the REN TV and STS channels to the Video International advertising holding and the Izvestia newspaper).

Today, the assets of Rossiya Bank are estimated at 279 billion rubles, and one of the Kovalchukov brothers, Yuri (No. 30, 79), ranks 65th on the Russian Forbes list with a capital of $1.5 billion.

Other friends, colleagues and colleagues of Putin were just as lucky: oil trader Gennady Timchenko, a close "acquaintance" of Putin since the early nineties, in 2011 took 26th place in the Russian Forbes list with a capital of $ 5.5 billion (in 2010 -m, his fortune was estimated three times less - $ 1.9 billion.) And Arkady Rotenberg - 92nd with a fortune of $ 1.1 billion.

Outcome

According to experts, the Putin clan currently controls assets worth between 4.5 and 6.8 trillion rubles, which is 10-15% of Russia's total annual GDP. In fact, a vertically integrated holding has been created in the vastness of the country: its own credit organizations providing working capital, its own cache factories pumping oil and gas from the ground, its pipeline systems, its own transport of all possible types, its own structures providing security and weapons for it , its own connection, its own social network, its own services, including media ones, and its own instruments of political control in the form of "parliament" and "CEC". And this whole system is closed, in fact, to one person: that is why Vladimir Putin is doomed to be a slave in a galley called "Russia, Inc."

Olga Beshley and Dmitry Dokuchaev took part in the preparation of the material

Who is responsible for what in their “house”

Worked on the scheme: Anatoly Yermolin, Olga Beshley, Dmitry Dokuchaev, Egor Mostovshchikov

Putin's clan topped the list of the richest families in the world

Forbes assessed the degree of influence of "Putin's team" on the Russian economy. 10 key managers and owners lead companies whose revenue is equivalent to a quarter of GDP. How did Putin's guards end up in key positions in Russian business?

How does the vertical of power work? No, no, not imitation, not the one in the State Duma, but real. Who are they, these “friends of Putin” who control financial flows, how and with what tools do they carry out their decisions, what resources do they actually have? Forbes decided to assess the real impact on the Russian economy of "Putin's friends" and identify ten key economic figures in the president's business environment.

When compiling the top ten, we first of all chose those who own a business, such as Arkady Rotenberg and Yuri Kovalchuk, or manage a large company - like all the other participants in the ranking. That is why the list does not include, for example, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov or ex-Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin. Secondly, a member of our "top ten" definitely got to know Putin before he moved to Moscow. According to this criterion, we selected leaders whose administrative history is directly related to the career growth of the Russian president himself and the stages of his work in the KGB, Germany, and the power structures of St. Petersburg.

Characteristically, almost all members of the list before "Putin's" appointments did not specialize in the industry, which is now controlled. The third criterion was an objective indicator - the amount of funds managed by a manager or business owner. The fourth factor is that a member of our list is a "curator" or a major player in a particular market. For example, Alexey Miller and Igor Sechin are in the oil and gas sector, and Yuri Kovalchuk is in the media business. According to this criterion, Gennady Timchenko did not make it to our top ten.

An important consequence: as a rule, managers have implemented or are implementing a project on a national scale. By this we mean the solution of economic and managerial tasks, such as the reform of Sberbank carried out by German Gref, or the creation of a machine-building state corporation by Sergei Chemezov. In addition, the national scale is inherent in projects aimed at strengthening Putin's power - for example, this is the displacement of the old Vyakhirev team from Gazprom by Alexei Miller or the creation of an alcohol "quasi-monopoly" by Arkady Rotenberg.

Having received 27 thousand hectares in places where collective farmers were dying of starvation under the strict guidance of his grandfather, the prime minister became the country's largest land tycoon.

Visits of Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev to the historical homeland of his ancestors, the village of Mansurovo Kursk region, are remarkably regular. It was there that the still modest Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Russian Federation was presented with the genealogical tree of his family. As soon as the St. Petersburg resident took office as president, the first region he visited was his native region. Everything they could in Mansurovo was updated. The school, the post office building, the medical assistant's station are brand new. Asphalt - through the whole village. On the whole, the people are satisfied with the changes: “It used to be knee-deep in mud,” says local resident Aleksey Pavlov. - Thanks to Medvedev - he brought the village to mind. At least we will live in old age as “white people”.

Recreation on 24,000 acres

A mysterious complex has been built on the outskirts, hidden from the eyes of local residents by a huge fence with CCTV cameras. "This is the prime minister's dacha!" - the villagers are sure. The head of the village council, Alexander Annenkov, does not confirm the speculation: "The land is leased from entrepreneurs, it has nothing to do with Medvedev."

Not true, citizen Annenkov. Even as it has. And you, as the head of the village council, cannot but know about the existence of the decree of the government of the Kursk region dated August 31, 2010 No. 100-pp “On the inclusion land plot to the boundaries of the settlement of the village of Mansurovo, Mansurovsky village council of the Soviet district of the Kursk region. This document consists of two paragraphs. "Include within the boundaries locality village of Mansurovo, Mansurovsky village council of the Soviet district of the Kursk region, a land plot of 240,000 sq. m (cadastral number 46:21:110702:47) from the composition of agricultural land, located at the address: Kursk region, Sovetsky district, Mansurovsky village council. And “to change the type of permitted use of the land plot specified in paragraph 1 of this resolution to the form: “for individual residential development and recreation.”

The resolution does not say a single word about rent, but the word “recreation” is present, meaning rest or recuperation after work. For this purpose, not fifteen acres were seized from the agricultural land, as for everyone, but as many as 24 hectares - 160 times more than the norm! In order for unknown persons to recuperate as comfortably as possible, an eight-room house of the owner and numerous buildings, as well as housing for servants and guards, are located on the site.

Not so long ago, Dmitry Medvedev was expected at Christmas and, knowing his love for various trinkets, they put up a huge Christmas tree in the yard, decorated with exclusive toys self made. But leaving the Kremlin, Dmitry Anatolyevich at that time had no time for toys.

New Marquis of Carabas

No matter how luxurious the Prime Minister's villa and the "recreational area" surrounding it, they make up an insignificant part of the true possessions of the Medvedev family in the Kursk region. The beginning of the empire was laid in 2009, when Bazis-Direct LLC, KOLOS Agrocompany LLC, Mansurovo-Agro LLC, Selskie Zori LLC and Alexandrovsky Stud Farm No. 12 OJSC merged under the roof of Kharitonovskaya Agrofirma LLC. ". In July of the following year, the LLC was transformed into Agrofirma Kharitonovskaya CJSC, and since October 2010, in honor of Medvedev's homeland, it has been called Agrocomplex Mansurovo CJSC.

The scale of the premier's lot is amazing. The agricultural complex owns 27,000 hectares in Kastornensky, Kursk and Sovetsky districts. 300 elite cows of the Holstein-Friesian breed graze here, which were joined this year by 296 cows from the United States; in total, up to 1,500 heads are planned in the dairy herd. The new Mansurovsky elevator is designed to store and process 40,000 tons of grain. A machine and tractor station, a seed plant, a pig farm for 55 thousand pigs, a dairy plant for 50 tons of products per day, a mixed feed plant, a meat processing plant, a biogas plant, American stallions for the Aleksandrovsky stud farm are being prepared for commissioning ... The list is endless.

According to incomplete data, the entire agricultural complex under Medvedev received 4 billion rubles of investments, whose sources are still officially unknown. This amount does not include work to create the necessary infrastructure. For example, the cost of a separate gas pipeline, which Medvedev personally demanded from the head of Gazprom, Alexei Miller, was not taken into account. Of course, the President's order was carried out immediately.

The inhabitants of Mansurovo themselves, like the peasants from the fairy tale about the puss in boots, openly call the land the personal property of the Marquis of Karabas, that is, the Prime Minister, emphasizing that they themselves are of little use for the agricultural complex - mainly visitors work there. But are the villagers wrong? Maybe Medvedev has nothing to do with Mansurovo? In order to check, let's see who actually leads this land principality.

Accomplices of fellow students of the prime minister

The official website of the company keeps a secret about its management. The relevant section contains only person- General Director of CJSC Agrocomplex Mansurovo, a former designer of laser systems at the Ulyanovsk radio lamp plant and an employee of the planning and economic department of Inkombank, who threw depositors, Alexander Anatolyevich Talamanov. But, having studied financial statements, anyone who wants to make sure that the prime minister's countrymen are not mistaken in their suspicions.

Ilya Eliseev

The chairman of the board of directors (aka the supervisory board) of the Mansurovo agricultural complex is Ilya Vladimirovich Eliseev. Yes, yes, the same classmate of the prime minister in the law faculty of Leningrad State University, one of his closest friends and partner in the Balfort company. In addition, Eliseev is the deputy chairman of the board of Gazprombank, co-author of the future third president of Russia according to the textbook " Civil law"And the chairman of the supervisory board of the "Dar" fund, which built another unofficial residence of Dmitry and Svetlana Medvedev - in Plyos, Yaroslavl region.

Natalya Kharitonova

In addition to Mr. Eliseev, the Board of Directors of Mansurovo includes other notable personalities. For example, until recently, the former resident of the Krasnodar Territory Natalya Evgenievna Kharitonova, who was the general director of the company, who in 1993-1998. comprehended from the teacher Medvedev the wisdom of Russian laws on law faculty Petersburg state university. In Mansurovo, Kharitonova is considered the niece of the Prime Minister's wife. However, there is no evidence for this yet.

Andrey Medvedev and Dmitry Medvedev

Even more interesting is Andrei Vasilievich Medvedev, a member of the board of directors. The same is the name of fellow countryman Kharitonova, a Moscow businessman who is the prime minister's cousin, being one of his Krasnodar relatives.

Maybe the presence of friends, personal students, family members of the head of the government of the Russian Federation guarantees the honesty of the prime minister's agricultural business, cutting off all sorts of crooks and thieves? It is unlikely. For example, Alexander Vladimirovich Kharchenkov was appointed a member of the board of directors and executive director of OAO Aleksandrovsky Stud Farm No. 12, which is part of the Mansurovsky agricultural holding, along with Natalya Kharitonova.

The long-term combination of Kharchenkov’s seizure of the lands of the Pamyat Ilyich collective farm, whose chairman was once his father Vladimir Ivanovich Kharchenkov, with the subsequent drain of the plots into the Mansurovo agricultural complex, is worthy of a separate study in the courses of land fraud, if lawyers Eliseev and Medvedev ever decide to open them .

In 1992, the collective farm was renamed into the AOZT "Memory of Ilyich" of the same name, which got 3322 hectares of collective farm land and all the people's real estate. In 1997, CJSC was transformed into an agricultural production cooperative "Memory of Ilyich". It was headed by Kharchenkov Jr. Having successfully bankrupted his own cooperative, Alexander Vladimirovich transferred the property of its members to the KOLOS company, the director of which “accidentally” turned out to be himself!

During the bankruptcy of "Pamyat Ilyich", the court revealed numerous violations, and in 2009 "KOLOS" Agrocompany LLC was convicted of tax evasion and, despite the longest legal proceedings, was forced to pay 605 thousand 650 rubles 11 kopecks of fines. Of course, Kharchenkov did not lay them out of his own pocket, and after the merger with the Medvedev estate, no one was willing to make claims to him.

Medvedev's Hollywood in Kursk greenhouses

No less remarkable figures are found in the environment of Andrei Medvedev. The Kursk company Seim-Agro, of which he is the director, belongs to the Kurskpromteplitsa holding. As the name suggests, the company produces structures for greenhouses. Kurskpromteplitsa is owned by the Fund for Support of Socially Significant State Projects (Sotsgosproject Fund). This is a purely private shop, the only founder - individual, former deputy editor of the newspaper "Economics and Life" Vitaly Yuryevich Golovachev, who back in 1996 became the main character of the scandal with the publication of ordered slanderous materials in his newspaper. After the publication of the PR-“chernukha”, the Savelovsky court fined the publication 1.1 billion rubles. Together with the fathers of market reforms, Yegor Gaidar and Anatoly Chubais, as well as the head of the KGB, Vadim Bakatin, who betrayed the Americans the wiretapping system of their embassy in Moscow, Mr. Golovachev is a member of the so-called Interaction reform club. The federal press calls this organization an influential Masonic community.

In addition to Sotsgosproekt, Golovachev owns a 50% stake in the Glavkino company, where the state bank VTB became his partners (after the weakening of Medvedev's political positions, he left the project), the director of Channel One Konstantin Ernst, a member of United Russia, film director Fyodor Bondarchuk and oligarch Nikolai Tsvetkov is the owner of the Uralsib group. Medvedev personally visited Gavkino, instructing his subordinate Vladislav Surkov to oversee the project. Thus, an old close friend of this now retired official, businessman Andrei Ivanitsky, appeared among the owners of Glavkino LLC.

Vladislav Surkov and Dmitry Medvedev

From the correspondence of the nominee Surkov, the former deputy head of the management department domestic policy administration of President Medvedev, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Government of the Russian Federation Oleg Khorokhordin, it is known that the creation of the largest Eastern Europe The filming complex cost Glavkino, supervised by the Kremlin, $ 300 million. Unfortunately, the money did not go to good use. Glavkino's priority project is the film epic August. Eighth ”- shamefully failed, repulsing at the box office only a little more than half of the $ 19 million allocated for it.

But Dmitry Anatolyevich himself liked the embodiment of his person by actor Vladimir Vdovichenkov, he personally appeared at the first viewing of the blockbuster and still favors Golovachev. The owner of Kurskpromteplitsa has long been firmly integrated into Medvedev's team. For example, in Moscow there is Meritage Management Company LLC, which owns the Winter Olympic Sports Support Fund. It is headed by Golovachev, the ex-co-owner is Svetlana Vladimirovna Iskrova. This former resident of Tashkent, like the effective manager Natalya Kharitonova, is a student of Medvedev, only she graduated from the law faculty of St. Petersburg State University later, in 2002. Another founder of the Meritage Management Company is another classmate of Medvedev - St. Petersburg lawyer Alexei Dolgushevsky, he owns 75% of the company. The rest is divided between StroyStandart LLC and Garant Club LLC, the latter previously owned by Dolgushevsky personally, and now it is owned by FinConsultingK LLC and a subsidiary of the Medvedev's Dar Fund - Orion LLC. Through the last legal entity, Dmitry Medvedev's favorite brainchild, the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum, was registered.

LLC "FinConsultingK" until 2012 also owned the fund "Dar" led by Eliseev. He was removed from the founders after the scandal with the transfer of the Plyos anti-tuberculosis sanatorium to the Medvedev residence, now the Winter Olympic Sports Support Fund, which, as indicated above, is owned by Meritage Management Company, has become the owner.

Filipp Mikhailovich Polyansky, Ms. Iskrava's classmate in the Faculty of Law at St. Petersburg State University long years studied with Ilya Eliseev, and still does business with both him and Iskrava. From 2006 to 2008, he was the general director of the Dar fund; in 2009, the Zertum-Invest company headed by Iskrava and Polyansky acquired the St. Petersburg palace of Count Kushelev-Bezborodko for 740 million rubles. In addition to him, Polyansky now owns a business center in Perovo, and the Blagoveshchensk Valve Plant, which fulfills orders from Rosneft and Gazprom, whose board of directors included Iskrova and Eliseev.

Finally, the same Iskrova, and after her Golovachev, previously owned the Moscow LLC Basis-Direct, the owner of which is now CJSC Agrocomplex Mansurovo. That is another proof deep dive into the abyss of the Kursk agricultural project of the prime minister's personal team. And, given the achievements of individual members of this team, it seems that these abysses should be investigated at least by the Accounts Chamber, and even by the Investigative Committee, paying special attention to pumping funds from the local budget through VAT refunds on imports. There is an opinion that it could be much more withdrawn from the treasury in this way than was received there as taxes.

The precedents of proceedings with the machinations of Medvedev's friends at law enforcement are available. For example, the former vice-president of the Russian Olympic Committee and chairman of the board of directors of OAO Kurorty North Caucasus» Akhmed Bilalov was unable to give an explanation about the billions of state rubles that disappeared in the abysses of his native mountains and fled abroad. And his right hand Stanislav Khatskevich went to the pre-trial detention center, from where he left only after he signed a sincere confession and gave exhaustive evidence against his patrons.

WTO estate

Perhaps you should not find fault, but rather be glad that the prime minister’s family, even if out of business interests, decided to take up development Agriculture? However, Mansurovo's own commercial is already suggestive. For some reason, the successes of the enterprise are praised (1.19-1.53) primarily by German businessmen close to the project: the owner of the Amandus Kahl company, known as a supplier of equipment for the preparation, conditioning and granulation of products, Joachim Berman, the owner of Riela, which produces equipment for storage and drying grain, Karl-Heinz Knop and Klaus Dreyer from the agricultural machinery dealer Amazone.

The same is said in the "Peasant Program" of the TVC channel for September 9, 2012. The host, Mansurovo employees and personally Ms. Kharitonova excitedly describe (1.15 - 6.40) the advantages of German Claas grain harvesters and Russia's entry into the World Trade Organization, which allows them to purchase German equipment and abandon Russian combines forever. It is logical to assume that the leader of the state should strive to develop the production of agricultural machinery primarily in his own country. Now it turns out that Medvedev lobbied for Russia's entry into the WTO, even at the cost of destroying the Russian engineering industry, just because it is beneficial for his personal business.

No less remarkable is the following plot of the program (6.46 - 8.13). One of Medvedev's most trusted associates, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, explains that bread prices will rise, but the government is not going to limit grain exports for this. Familiar words. In the last decades of existence Russian Empire they were uttered by the Minister of Finance Ivan Vyshnegradsky, who, on the eve of the impending famine, dismissively threw out “We will not eat, but we will export!” Subsequently, the Bolsheviks behaved in exactly the same way, including the prime minister's grandfather, the chairman of the Mansurov collective farm, Afanasy Fedorovich Medvedev. Under his leadership, according to the recollections of fellow villagers, "people died like sheaves."

Vyshnegradsky and the Bolsheviks (but not removed from the chairmen and fled from fellow countrymen dying of hunger in Krasnodar region Afanasia Medvedeva) partly excuses the fact that they directed the money from grain exports to the industrialization of Russia, and did not take it into their pockets. Here we are witnessing the cynical lobbyism of a foreign manufacturer, a conscious course towards turning the country into a raw material appendage and the shameless seizure of state lands by a warm company of relatives, classmates and students of Mr. Medvedev, headed by himself.

Sasha Russian

Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the deputy chairman of the board of SOGAZ, Mikhail Putin, is a distant relative of the head of state, noting that they do not communicate, TASS reports.

“As far as I know, Mikhail Putin is indeed a distant relative of the president. However, I don’t know that they have any kind of communication, that is, in fact, they don’t communicate, but they really have some kind of distant relationship,” Peskov said. .

Meanwhile, the deputy chairman of the board of SOGAZ, Mikhail Putin, may join the board of PJSC Gazprom, Interfax reports.

As follows from the statement of the gas concern, the board of directors of "Gazprom" at the present time (the deadline for accepting voting ballots ends just on March 22) is considering the question "About M.E. Putin."

Such issues on the agenda of the Council always concern the composition of the Management Board of PJSC Gazprom. At the same time, no conclusion can be drawn from Gazprom's report as to what position Putin is being considered for. However, on this moment only one vacancy on the board is known. In December 2017, Alexander Kozlov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Gazprom for Economic Affairs, died, and so far Gazprom has not announced that this position has been filled.

Mikhail Putin, Vladimir Putin's cousin-nephew, was born in Ivanovo in 1967. Graduated from Ivanovo State medical institute and the State Academy of Management. S. Ordzhonikidze, candidate of medical sciences.

He held the position of Deputy General Director of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Medtekhsnab" of the Ministry of Health of Russia, Deputy Head of the Department of Pharmaceutical Activities, Provision medicines And medical devices Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Head of the Department of Economic Development of Healthcare, Financial Management and Material Resources of the Ministry of Health.

In 2004-2007, he was the head of the medical department of OAO Gazprom, and since 2007, he has been deputy chairman of the board of OAO SOGAZ. Is a current advisor Russian Federation 3 classes.

Putin's relatives: how the relatives of the President of the Russian Federation live and what they have achieved

The personality of the President of the Russian Federation is of genuine interest, both among the Russians themselves and among foreign media. Only now the latter, unlike their compatriots, are trying to denigrate the image of the head of state, who has become one of the most powerful and influential in the international arena. It is for this reason that Western tabloids with such perseverance and thoroughness search for and collect bit by bit information about the personal life of the Russian president, about who they are and what Putin's relatives have achieved, how his daughters have settled. Sometimes publications are published, the information in which is far from reality, but, nevertheless, the media still publish it in pursuit of sensations and in order to attract reader interest.

Putin's Relatives: Parents of the President of Russia

“The simplest, most ordinary family,” these were the words that characterized the family and relatives of Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich, those who knew his father and mother - Vladimir Spiridonovich and Maria Ivanovna. And the head of state himself later shared his memories: “I am from a simple family, and I lived this life for a very long time, almost my entire conscious life. I lived like an ordinary normal person.”

The mother of the future guarantor of the Constitution, Maria Ivanovna Putina, nee Shelomova, was, as people who knew her recalled, a very gentle and benevolent person. She was an excellent cook and loved to treat numerous guests with the fruits of her culinary art. “Pies with cabbage, delicious cheesecakes, cabbage soup,” this is how Maria Ivanovna fed the Putin family.

The father of the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation was a front-line soldier. As Putin himself describes his relative, he was a very strict man. Strict but fair. Vladimir Spiridonovich married the mother of the future Russian president at the age of 17.

It is noteworthy that initially the relatives of Vladimir Putin had a very negative attitude towards his judo hobbies. His father had a weakness for music and often forced little Volodya to play his favorite compositions on the button accordion. But the soul of the future Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation lay more in martial arts. “Again, you went to your fights, do you want your head to be turned there?”, - Maria Ivanovna treated her son’s judo classes with such criticism. Only after a conversation between coach Putin and his relatives did the parents stop interfering with their son's studies.

After the war, the relatives of Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich, together with their young son, settled in a communal apartment in Baskov Lane. A typical St. Petersburg yard-well, a five-story building without an elevator, and of all the luxury items - a telephone, which was also used by the neighbors in the communal apartment. “But for the parents it was a happy period of life, they were so proud of everything they have,” Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin once shared his memories of his relatives.

Putin's closest relatives - wife Lyudmila and daughters

Since the future guarantor of the Constitution of the Russian Federation was the only child in the family, his wife Lyudmila and two daughters became his closest relatives after the death of his parents. Despite the fact that, in the interests of security, the head of state usually does not reveal details about his family, crumbs of information still seep into the media. However, in fairness, it should be noted that most of the publications are far from the truth and are more often just a reprint of ridiculous rumors that later do not find official confirmation.

ABOUT ex-wife A little more is known about Vladimir Putin than about his other relatives and friends. The future husband and wife met thanks to a mutual friend who invited Vladimir Vladimirovich to the Arkady Raikin Theater. “Come, I have tickets, there will be girls.” “There really were girls,” Vladimir Vladimirovich later recalled about his acquaintance with Lyudmila. Then the future wife of the president worked as a flight attendant and, together with her friend, flew to Leningrad for three days. The next day, the young people again went to the theater, but the future guarantor of the Constitution got the tickets. And on the third day the situation repeated itself. “There was something in Volodya that attracted me,” Lyudmila, who became Putin’s wife, later said. The head of state himself noted: “I realized that if I don’t get married for another two or three years, then I’ll never get married again. Although, of course, the habit of bachelorhood remained, Lyudmila quickly eradicated it.

Just a year before leaving for Dresden, Vladimir and Lyudmila had their first daughter, Maria. The younger Katerina was born already while serving in intelligence in Germany. On the official portal of the President of the Russian Federation, dedicated to the biography and relatives of Putin, it is noted that both girls were named after their grandmothers - Maria Ivanovna Putina, mother of the president and Ekaterina Tikhonovna Shkrebneva (Lyudmila Putina's maternal relatives). As the wife of the head of state later shared revelations, the president loved his daughters very much. “Not all men treat their children as touchingly as he does. And he always spoiled them, and I had to educate them, ”the wife noted.

Putin says little about the fate of his children, trying to protect his relatives, his daughters from sometimes too annoying media attention. But journalists still ask questions. Vladimir Putin lifted the veil of secrecy about his relatives during a conversation with American journalist Oliver Stone, who arrived in Russia to make a film about the President of the Russian Federation. Then he admitted that he already has grandchildren, but there is sorely not enough time to play with them - too a large number of issues is under the constant control of the leader of the state.

At the same time, when commenting on the questions that his relatives were "spinning" in business or politics, Putin noted that this information was not true. He said that he sometimes meets with his daughters and their husbands, but his children are not connected with politics or big business, but devoted their lives entirely to science and education.

Putin's relatives, which few people know about

Grandfather of Vladimir Vladimirovich - Spiridon Putin, together with his wife, managed to acquire four children during their lifetime. Almost nothing is known about the fate of the brothers or sisters of Vladimir Spiridonovich, the father of the current president of Russia, because their family came from a simple peasant family, the details of which were not particularly recorded in history. Nevertheless, in search of a sensation, journalists managed to unearth information that Vladimir Putin has relatives who even succeeded in power and business.

Whether this is true or not is still not known for certain. There have been no official comments from the chief representative of President Putin, Dmitry Peskov, on this matter. However, Peskov always refuses to comment on the issue of Putin's relatives, since this is a security issue. Nevertheless, Igor Putin is called a cousin and one of the closest relatives of Vladimir Vladimirovich.

Cousin Igor Putin

In fairness, it should be noted that Igor has been in business since the 1990s - then he worked for some time in Ryazan in the committee of state statistics, and at the turn of the century he headed the Ryazan Regional Licensing Chamber for some time. The highest position of a relative of Vladimir Putin in power was the post of vice-president of Master Bank and membership in the board of directors.

In addition, allegedly Putin's cousin was on the board of directors of two more financial institutions - the Russian Land Bank and Industrial Savings. After both banks had their licenses revoked financial activities, Igor moved to the board of directors of the Inoventica holding, the main branch of production of which is the development of technologies. From the description of the career path of this relative of Putin, it can be seen that kinship with the most influential person in the country and one of the most influential in the world did not bring sky-high success to the man. The same can be said about other people whom the media call relatives of Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich.

Cousin-nephew - Roman Putin

Roman is called the cousin-nephew and son of Igor Putin, who is considered the cousin and closest relative of Vladimir Vladimirovich after his own daughters. In fairness, it should be noted that Roman also achieved his success in business himself - this can be seen from his biography. Initially, the man served in the FSBD, and then went to public service to his native Ryazan region, following the example of his father. At the turn of the century, Roman, who is called a relative of Vladimir Putin on the paternal side, tried to try his luck in business, but it didn’t work out, so he again went to the civil service, but this time already in Novosibirsk region, having managerial experience in Ryazan.

Roman Putin, as noted by the media, acted as a co-owner of a dozen companies in various regions. Apparently, the first unsuccessful experience in business taught the man "not to put all your eggs in one basket." In 2014, Roman founded Putin Consulting in London, whose task was to help British entrepreneurs in doing business in Russia. The entrepreneur's father, Igor, once admitted: “I am sure that Vladimir Putin, if he knew about his son's activities, would support him. We are not doing anything bad for the country, on the contrary, we are trying to help to the best of our modest ability.” Such a confession openly indicates that Russian President Putin has nothing to do with the political or entrepreneurial careers of his distant relatives.

Another cousin-nephew - Mikhail Putin

Another relative of Vladimir Putin who tried to realize himself in business was Mikhail Putin, the son of the cousin of the head of state. Mikhail worked for some time as a head in the medical department at Gazprom, and also acted as a co-founder of two pharmaceutical companies at once - Satelprom and Biostat. Both firms were engaged in the development of biotechnology. In 2007, Putin's cousin began working at Sogaz as deputy chairman of the board.

Cousin niece of the head of state - Vera Putina

Perhaps Vera has become the only relative of Putin in power. The great-niece is a maternal relative of President Putin. It is noteworthy that in childhood she had a different surname, but then she found out that she was related to the head of the Russian Federation and decided to change her surname. Vera lives in St. Petersburg and is involved in politics - she sits in the municipal assembly of the Vladimir District, and is also a member of the party " United Russia". In 2010, the girl joined the board of directors of Hanzakombank and worked there for five years before financial organization license to operate has been revoked.

Putin and Medvedev are also relatives?

As ridiculous as it may sound, some time ago there were speculations in the media that Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin had relatives in the government. And this is neither more nor less than Dmitry Medvedev. Most likely, the journalists put forward such completely ridiculous assumptions due to the fact that Dmitry Anatolyevich and Russian President often appeared together not only at official events, but also in an informal setting. Medvedev's nomination also had an effect on presidential term after the expiration of Putin's powers.

But these rumors are so ridiculous and ridiculous that it is even difficult to comment on them. Putin's parents had two more children, but both died - one before the war, and the second in war time due to diphtheria. The Prime Minister of Russia was born on September 14, 1965 in Leningrad, in the family of Anatoly Afanasyevich, a professor at the Leningrad Technological Institute named after the Lensoviet, and a teacher at the Herzen Pedagogical Institute, Yulia Veniaminovna. Dmitry Anatolyevich, like Vladimir Vladimirovich, was an only child in the family, and to say that the Russian prime minister is a relative of Putin and only for this reason "sits" in the government is a strong sin against the truth.