Petrostate: Putin, Power, and the New Russia

Glossary of People and Companies

Jack Abramoff A lobbyist in Washington who worked with Texas Congressman Tom DeLay and ended up in prison. One of their clients was a Russian energy company.

Roman Abramovich A former partner of Boris Berezovsky, Abramovich ended up as the main owner of Sibneft, which he sold to the state, making him the richest man in Russia. He used some of the funds to buy the Chelsea soccer team in London.

Vagit Alekperov A former minister of the petroleum industry in the Soviet Union who set aside valuable oil properties for himself and created LUKoil. He is the largest individual stockholder. LUKoil sold 20 percent of its stock to ConocoPhillips.

Svetlana Bakhmina A junior lawyer working for Yukos, she was arrested in the early morning hours and held hostage in an effort to force her boss to return to Russia for questioning after he fled to London.

Stanislav Belkovsky An analyst who works closely with Kremlin officials and who often has leaked information which signaled measures that were about to be taken by the Kremlin.

Boris Berezovsky One of the original oligarchs who became very close to members of Yeltsin’s family. Among other assets he controlled were Sibneft and Aeroflot as well as ORT, the main state-owned TV network. Early on, he befriended Putin and helped him rise to power. However after being criticized on ORT, Putin turned on him, and Berezovsky fled to London where he lives in exile.

Leonard Blavatnik A Russian émigré with an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He is the principle owner of Access Industries, a U.S. company, which is a major stockholder in Tyumen Oil and SUAL, Russia’s second largest aluminum company.

Sergei Bogdanchikov The CEO of Rosneft, the state-dominated oil company that took over ownership of the most valuable properties from Yukos.

Vladimir Bogdanov A veteran oil official who became CEO of Surgutneftegaz when it became privatized.

William Browder The grandson of Earl Browder, the head of the U.S. Communist Party. He established the Hermitage Capital Management Fund, which became a major investor in Gazprom and other Russian companies. After he criticized Russian corporate business practices, he was denied a Russian visa and prevented from returning to Russia.

Lord John Browne The CEO of British Petroleum (BP) who created a 50/50 partnership with Tyumen Oil.

Aleksandr Bulbov A lieutenant general in the Federal Narcotics Control Service who despite his rank was arrested by the FSB in what was thought to be a fight between government agencies over control of state assets.

Vladimir Butov The governor of the Nenets Autonomous District, an area rich in oil deposits, who has been charged with extortion and questionable practices by oil companies seeking to operate in the region.

William Casey The director of the CIA under President Ronald Reagan who is said to have worked with Saudi Arabia to increase oil production in an effort to precipitate a drop in oil prices and hurt the USSR’s export earning capacity in order to bring about the collapse of the communist state.

Viktor Chernomyrdin The former minister of the gas industry who transformed the ministry into the joint stock company Gazprom. He later became a prime minister of Russia. Yeltsin later fired him and made him chairman of Gazprom.

Oleg Deripaska An oligarch who became a favorite of Putin, Deripaska won control of Rusal, the country’s largest aluminum company. A controversial figure, at various times he has been denied visas to visit the United States. He is said to have become a major holder of General Motors stock.

Robert Dudley The managing head of the TNK-BP oil company.

Boris Fedorov A former minister of finance, he went on to become a major partner in United Financial Group. A major stockholder in Gazprom, Federov led an effort to remove its then CEO Rem Vyakhirev.

Dmytro Firtash A Ukrainian businessman who began by bartering goods between Ukraine and Turkmenistan, he became the head of Eural Trans Gas, a shadowy intermediary between Ukraine, Turkmenistan, and Gazprom.

Mikhail Fridman One of the original oligarchs who created Alfa Bank. He also became one of the principle owners of Tyumen Oil. He is one of the few original oligarchs who has survived the Putin purges.

Ivan Fursin A junior partner with Dmytro Firtash in RosUkrEnergo, the opaque intermediary that sold gas to the Ukrainian utility which supplies Ukrainian households.

Yegor Gaidar The acting prime minister during Yeltsin’s first year as president of Russia. One of the architects of Russian shock therapy.

Viktor Gerashchenko The head of the Soviet and then the Russian Central Bank.

Vladimir Gusinsky One of the early oligarchs who created Most Bank and Media-Most, which became Russia’s first private TV network. After his NTV network attacked Putin, he was arrested and eventually fled into exile.

Mikhael Gutseriev The founder of the oil company Russneft. He was forced to sell the company to Oleg Deripaska after the government issued a warrant for Gutseriev’s arrest.

Ferenc Gyurcsany The prime minister of Hungary who is torn between joining with Russia or non-Russian groups in building a gas pipeline which would originate in the Caspian and Black Seas and transit through Europe.

Tony Hayward The successor to Lord John Browne as CEO of BP.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky Another of the original oligarchs who created the Menatep Bank, which in turn gained ownership of Yukos. Khodorkovsky was subsequently arrested and sentenced to 8 years in jail and Yukos was seized by the state.

Sergei Kiriyenko The prime minister of Russia from March 1998 until the financial crash of August 1998. Subsequently Putin appointed him the chairman of the Federal Atomic Energy Agency.

Helmut Kohl Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998.

Alexander Korzhakov A KGB general who in 1985 became the head of presidential security when Boris Yeltsin was president. He was removed from office in 1996.

Konstantin Kosachëv Chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the Duma.

Alexei Kudrin Worked with Putin in the governor’s office in St. Petersburg and later accompanied Putin to Moscow to work in the central government. A technocrat, he eventually became the minister of finance.

Platon Lebedev A partner of Khodorkovsky in Menatep and Yukos who was also found guilty of tax evasion and sentenced to jail.

Alexander Litvinenko A former agent of the KGB who fled to London and was subsequently poisoned.

Andrei Lugovoi A former KGB agent who was accused of poisoning Litvinenko and who refused to return to London after he was elected to the Duma as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party.

Alexander Lukashenko The president of Belarus who some have described as the last dictator of Europe.

Igor Makarov A bicycle champion from Turkmenistan who founded ITERA, which started out as a trading company and at one point became the second largest producer of natural gas in Russia. Its headquarters are in Jacksonville, Florida.

Enrico Mattei CEO of the Italian energy company Eni.

Valentina Matviyenko The governor of St. Petersburg.

Alexander Medvedev Deputy Chairman of Gazprom.

Dmitry Medvedev Chairman of Gazprom and for a time Director of the Presidential Administration in the Kremlin and subsequently first deputy prime minister, who also worked with Putin in St. Petersburg when he was deputy governor.

Alexei Miller The CEO of Gazprom who worked with Putin when he was deputy governor of St. Petersburg.

Bruce Misamore Chief financial officer of Yukos, an American who previously worked for Marathon Oil in the United States.

Semion Mogilevich A shadowy figure accused by the FBI of criminal activity and being a mafia leader who is thought to be involved in the sale of gas to Ukraine.

Nursultan Nazarbayev The president of Kazakhstan.

Leonid Nevzlin A close friend and collaborator of Khodorkovsky who fled in exile to Israel before Khodorkovsky was arrested and Yukos was seized by the state.

Saparmurat Niyazov The leader of Turkmenistan until his death.

Ludwig and Robert Nobel Brothers who were among the first to develop Russia’s oil fields around Baku before World War I and the Revolution.

Nikolai Patrushev Head of the FSB, the successor to the KGB.

Vladimir Petukhov The mayor of an oil-rich city in Siberia where many Yukos operations were located. After complaining about Yukos’s failure to pay its taxes, he was found murdered.

Evgeny Primakov A former head of the KGB who was appointed prime minister in September 1998 after the financial collapse and who was removed in May 1999.

Lee Raymond CEO of Exxon-Mobil.

John D. Rockefeller One of the early developers of the oil industry in the United States and the founder of Standard Oil.

Leonid Roketsky The governor of the Tyumen region who at the same time was chairman of the Tyumen Oil Company.

Rothschild brothers International bankers and early investors and developers of oil production in the Baku region.

Mikhail Saakashvili The president of Georgia who earlier attended Columbia University in New York.

Gerhard Schroeder The chancellor of Germany who promoted the building of Nord Stream, a Russian-German pipeline, and then became the chairman of the board of directors.

Igor Sechin A former KGB agent who became deputy chairman of the Kremlin administration while simultaneously serving as chairman of the Board of Directors of Rosneft.

Igor Shuvalov An economic adviser to Putin.

Oleg Shvartsman A shadowy figure who runs the $36-billion Finansgroup Investment Fund. This fund is reputed to manage the assets of high-ranking government officials who have funneled government assets into their own accounts.

Alexander Smolensky An early oligarch who created the SBS/AGRO bank and with Berezovsky became an owner of Sibneft.

Anatoly Sobchak Putin’s professor in law school who became governor of St. Petersburg and appointed Putin as his deputy.

Sergei Stepashin The former head of the FSB who served as prime minister from May 1999 to August 1999 and subsequently became head of the Duma Audit Chamber.

Sergei Storchak The deputy minister of public finance in charge of administering and investing the country’s stabilization fund. He was arrested on charges of embezzlement in late 2007 as part of what was thought to be an effort by some of the siloviki to gain control of the billions of dollars held in that fund.

Steven Theede An American who worked for ConocoPhillips and was later appointed as chief operating officer of Yukos.

Gennady Timchenko A long-time friend of Putin who with Putin is rumored to share the ownership of Gunvor, a company selling petroleum.

Andrei Vavilov A former deputy finance minister who became the predominant owner of Northern Oil, a company he eventually sold to Rosneft for a very expensive price.

Viktor Vekselberg An early oligarch who became a major partner in Renova, which has major holdings in Tyumen Oil. He also became one of the owners of SUAL, one of the country’s aluminum manufacturers. He also financed the purchase of the Fabergé eggs so they could be returned to Russia and paid for the return of the bells of the Danilov Monastery from Harvard University.

Rem Vyakhirev The president of Gazprom until he was not reappointed in 2001. Formerly he was the Deputy Minister of the Gas Industry.

Matthias Warnig A former Stasi Secret Police agent who befriended Putin when they were both stationed in East Germany. Waring later ran the Dresdner Bank office in St. Petersburg and was selected to head the Nord Stream pipeline project in the Baltic Sea.

Kurt Weldon A ten-term congressman from Pennsylvania whose daughter became the public relations principal for ITERA.

Grigory Yavlinsky An economist who worked for both Yeltsin and Gorbachev and who later became the head of the Yabloko political party.

Viktor Yushchenko The president of Ukraine.

Gennady Zyuganov The head of the Communist Party in Russia.

Arcelor A Benelux steel company that for a time considered forming a partnership with a Russian company.

Blue Stream A natural gas pipeline from Russia to Turkey under the Black Sea.

Eni / Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi An Italian energy company that became a major purchaser of Soviet oil and gas.

E.ON A German natural gas company that bought up Ruhrgas and has partnered with Gazprom in several projects.

Gasunie A Dutch pipeline company that is partnering in the construction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea.

GECF The Organization for Gas Exporting Countries which is a forum for gas producers. It as yet lacks the powers of an OPEC-type organization.

ITERA For a time, Russia’s second-largest producer of natural gas. It is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.

Kharyaga An oil field located in Timan-Pechora, a northern province. The French company Total has the operating concession.

Kovykta A gas field located in northern Siberia. BP has the operating concession, but it failed to fulfill the terms of the production agreement with the state. As a penalty it was forced to provide an ownership share to Gazprom.

LUKoil A private oil company put together by Vagit Alekperov. ConocoPhillips now owns 20 percent of its stock. LUKoil purchased the Getty Oil filling station network.

Menatep The bank created by Khodorkovsky.

MOL A Hungarian natural gas utility.

NABUCCO A pipeline that the European Union is seeking to build as a way of bypassing Russian-controlled gas pipelines to Europe.

Nefteyugansk One of the main producing sites for Yuganstneftegas which was the main producing unit for Yukos until it was taken over by Rosneft.

NEGP The North European Gas Pipeline, now called Nord Stream.

Nord Stream The pipeline Gazprom is building in the Baltic Sea connecting Russia to Germany designed to bypass Poland and Ukraine.

Norex A Canadian oil development company that was pushed out of its development work in Russia by Tyumen Oil.

Norilsk Nickel A major producer of nonferrous metals controlled by Vladimir Potanin.

OGEC The Organization of Gas Exporting Countries, a possible OPEC.

OMV An Austrian utility company which is seeking control of MOL.

OneksimBank The bank formed by Vladimir Potanin.

Renova A U.S. company controlled by Blavatnik and Vekselberg which has major holding in TNK and SUAL, among others.

Romaskino For a time one of the world’s largest oil wells.

Rosneft The state-owned oil company that took over most of Yukos’s assets.

Ruhrgas A German natural gas distribution company that early on cooperated with Gazprom and owns shares in Gazprom. It was bought up by E.ON.

Samotlor A major oil-producing site in Russia.

SEGP A natural gas pipeline Gazprom is seeking to build from Turkey to Western Europe.

Sibneft The Russian oil company privatized by Berezovsky, who in turn brought in Abramovich, who in turn sold it to Gazprom.

South Stream Yet another natural gas pipeline which if built would transport gas in Southern Europe and compete with NABUCCO.

TNK-BP A 50/50 joint venture formed by BP and Tyumen Oil.

Tyumen Oil (TNK) One of the privatized oil companies; controlled by Fridman, Blavatnik, and Vekselberg, which formed a joint venture with BP.

Volga-Urals One of the oil fields developed along the Volga.

Wingas A natural gas joint venture formed between Wintershall, the German company, and Gazprom.

Wintershall A German natural gas distribution which has entered into several joint ventures with Gazprom.

Yukos For a time, the largest privatized oil company in Russia until it was taken over from Khodorkovsky; much of it was taken over by Rosneft.