ukrainian oligarch
Rinat Leonidovych Akhmetov ( ukrainian : Ріна́т Леоні́дович Ахме́тов [ r⁽ʲ⁾iˈnɑt leoˈn⁽ʲ⁾idowɪtʃ ɐxˈmɛtou̯ ] ; russian : Рина́т Леони́дович Ахме́тов [ rʲɪˈnat lʲɪɐˈnʲidəvʲɪtɕ ɐˈxmʲetəf ] ; Tatar : Cyrillic Ринат Леонид улы Әхмәтов, Latin Rinat Leonid uly Ӓkhmӓtov ; born on 21 September 1966 ) is a ukrainian billionaire businessman and oligarch. [ 1 ] He is the laminitis and president of System Capital Management ( SCM ), and ranked among the wealthiest men in Ukraine. [ 2 ] As of June 2021, he was listed as the 327th richest man in the world with an estimate net income deserving of US 7.5 billion. [ 3 ] Some sources have claimed that Akhmetov has been involved in organized crime, [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] but Akhmetov has never been charged with a crime, his lawyers having successfully refuted these accusations. [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ] Akhmetov is the owner and president of the united states of the ukrainian football club Shakhtar Donetsk. In 2006–2007 and 2007–2012, Akhmetov was a extremity of the ukrainian Verkhovna Rada ( parliament ) for the Party of Regions. [ 11 ] [ 12 ] [ 13 ] Akhmetov besides made numerous statements, since March 2014, appealing for integrity of Ukraine and finding peaceful solutions of the crisis. [ 14 ] [ 15 ]

early life [edit ]

Rinat Akhmetov was born in Donetsk, ukrainian SSR, to a propertyless syndicate. He is an cultural Volga Tatar [ 16 ] [ 17 ] [ 18 ] and a practice Sunni Muslim. [ 19 ] His forefather, Leonid Akhmetov was a coal-miner [ 12 ] [ 20 ] and his mother, Nyakiya Nasredinovna, was a shop assistant.

Akhmetov had an older brother, Igor, who besides worked as a ember miner but had to resign due to work-related health complications. [ 21 ] Igor died on 24 January 2021. [ 22 ] Akhmetov earned a knight bachelor ‘s degree in economics from Donetsk National University in 2001. [ 23 ] [ 24 ]

business career [edit ]

Beginnings [edit ]

Details regarding Akhmetov ‘s past, how he obtained his wealth after the fall of communism in Ukraine, and his activities between 1985 and 1995, remain controversial. [ 25 ] [ 26 ] Akhmetov has stated in interviews that he successfully made hazardous business investments in the inaugural years after the crash of the Soviet Union, [ 26 ] and in 2010, denied he inherited any money from Akhat Bragin or anyone else : “ I have earned my first million by trading coal and coke, and spent the money on assets that no one wanted to buy. It was a gamble but it was deserving it ”. [ 27 ] many publications in Ukraine and other european countries have made claims about Akhmetov ‘s alleged “ criminal past ”, some of which late retracted their statements. [ 25 ] [ 28 ] [ 29 ] In 2005 Akhmetov hired american lawyers Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, who issued a statement denying that Akhmetov has any ties with the criminal populace. [ 7 ]
Akhmetov and Leonid Kuchma, the second president of independent Ukraine In his objective book Donetsk Mafia: Anthology, [ 30 ] ukrainian writer Serhiy Kuzin claims Akhmetov held the function of a ‘mafia hood ‘ in his early years ; [ 31 ] according to Hans vanguard Zon, Professor of Central and Eastern European Studies in the University of Sunderland, “ a early on as 1986, Rinat and his buddy Igor were involved in criminal activities. ” [ 5 ] In the 1980s, Akhmetov acted as an adjunct to Akhat Bragin, whom law enforcement agencies regarded as a powerful crime boss ; [ 26 ] allegedly in the illegal fabric trade commercial enterprise. [ 5 ] Andrew Wilson, a scholar specializing in ukrainian politics, categorized Akhmetov as an alleged former ‘enforcer ‘ and ‘leader ‘ of “ [ Akhat ] Bragin ‘s ‘Tatar ‘ kin ”, responsible for the use of “ mafia methods to push away the ‘red directors ‘ of the Industrial Union of Donbas ( ISD ) ”. [ 32 ] By the early 1990s, Akhmetov began acquiring property in Donetsk allegedly by means of extortion with the aid of Volodymyr Malyshev, Lieutenant-General of The Head of Ministry of Internal Affairs Department in Donetsk Oblast. [ 5 ] Malyshev, now a member of Ukraine ‘s Parliament on the committee controlling law enforcement, is accused by Kuzin of using his place to do away with previously existing police records concerning Akhmetov curtly before becoming headman of security for Akhmetov ‘s company. [ 28 ] “ In [ the 1990s ], Akhmetov was very different – he was wholly private with no public character, and was trying to find ways to deal with his ‘difficult past ‘ ”, noted U.S. ambassador William Taylor, citing big ukrainian businessman Serhiy Taruta. Further in that article cited the answer of the spokesperson for Akhmetov addressed to the Kyiv Post : “ We do n’t know whether this phrase is authentic and what it actually means. Although, any accusations of Mr Akhmetov ‘s participation in condemnable structures is slander. ” [ 33 ] In October 1995, Bragin, president of Shakhtar Donetsk football club, was killed in a cryptic bombing along with six of his bodyguards at the team ‘s stadium during a equal. [ 34 ] Some rumours associate Akhmetov with the end of Bragin. [ 32 ] Following the assassinations, Akhmetov is said to have “ inherited a huge fiscal empire from Bragin ”. [ 5 ]
Akhmetov, Viktor Yanukovych and Viktor Chernomyrdin Akhmetov would head Dongorbank ( once Akceptbank ) in 1995. [ 35 ] In September 1999, an official ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs report titled the “ Overview of the Most Dangerous Organized Crime Structures in Ukraine ” identified Akhmetov as a leader of an organized crime syndicate. The report tied the group to money laundering, fiscal fraud, and the master of numerous large and fabricated companies. [ 28 ] [ 36 ] The report besides says that the group ‘s activities “ have been stopped, ” and says further that their criminal natures “ have not been confirmed ”. [ 28 ] Released in a WikiLeaks diplomatic cable, Volodymyr Horbulin, one of Ukraine ‘s most respected policy strategists and former presidential adviser, told the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine in 2006 that the Party of Regions, which “ enjoyed deep pockets, being largely financed by billionaire Donetsk bos Rinat Akhmetov ” is partially composed of “ pure criminals ” and “ criminal and anti-democracy figures ”. [ 37 ] In a U.S. diplomatic cable dated 3 February 2006, then U.S. Ambassador John Herbst referred to Akhmetov ‘s Party of Regions as “ long a seaport for Donetsk-based mobsters and oligarch ” and called Akhmetov the “ godfather “ of the Donetsk kin. [ 33 ] After Ukraine ‘s Orange Revolution of late 2004, in an attack to fight putrescence, several big businessmen who were besides Party of Regions members came under criminal probe ; [ 38 ] In 2011, Hennadiy Moskal, who in 2005 acted as Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, gave an interview to ukrainian magazine Профиль ( profil-ua ), where he claimed to have been under presidential orders in 2005 to investigate and audit Akhmetov for his alleged role in organized crime. concrete testify was never formally revealed against him, nor his caller. According to Moskal, the MVS investigated all incidents related to missing people in 1990s in Donetsk region, who had any place leftover, and its current owners, but no connections with Rinat Akhmetov and his cortege were found. [ 39 ] Looking back, Moskal concluded that “ we had nothing on Akhmetov in 2005 ”. [ 39 ] According to political journal ‘s Post-Soviet Affairs, and The Nation, Akhmetov was investigated on murder charges and for his alleged function in organized crime in the Donetsk region. To avoid pursuance he was prompted to flee the state to Monaco. [ 39 ] [ 40 ] [ 41 ] [ 42 ] In June 2005, Serhiy Kornich, then head of the Interior Ministry ‘s economic crimes department, stated publicly that Akhmetov was “ the head of [ an ] organized crime group. ” [ 43 ] That year, Borys Kolesnikov, a friend and associate who had been tied to Akhmetov since the 1980s, was arrested on charges of extortion and conspiracy to assassinate a rival Donetsk businessman. [ 40 ] Charges against Akhmetov and Kolesnikov were dropped in 2006 amid a significant rise in political exponent by the erstwhile, [ 40 ] and the cooperation of the Yuschenko government, [ 42 ] ending Akhmetov ‘s exile .

SCM Group [edit ]

Akhmetov founded System Capital Management Group ( JSC “ SCM ” ) in 2000, and has been its sole owner since 2009. [ 44 ] During his career SCM has grown to be one of Ukraine ‘s run fiscal and industrial firms [ 45 ] with assets including over 100 businesses in metals and mining, power genesis, bank and indemnity, telecommunications, media and real number estate ; and revenues of around $ 12.8 billion and has assets worth over $ 22.7 billion. [ 46 ] The largest company in the SCM Group is Metinvest, which is a mining and steel business and is broadly agreed to be Ukraine ‘s largest secret business and is one of the larger steel businesses in Europe. In 2001, Epic, a Vienna-based investing company agreed to purchase 93 % of Ukrtelecom, a telephone monopoly owned by SCM, for $ 1.3 billion. [ 47 ] In June 2004, [ 48 ] Akhmetov and Viktor Pinchuk ( the son-in-law of then-President Leonid Kuchma ) acquired the sword factory Kryvorizhstal for approximately $ 800 million from the state in a 2004 tender despite much higher bids made by foreign companies. [ 49 ] Later, in 2005, the first Tymoshenko Government reversed this sale, and held a nationally televised reprise auction that netted a record-breaking $ 4.8 billion. [ 49 ] SCM has been recognized as a leader of ukrainian bodied sociable province ratings, garnering the top nominating speech by Gvardiya Magazine ‘s rankings of Ukraine ‘s “ Socially creditworthy Companies ” in 2011. SCM had previously won in 2009, [ 50 ] and 2010. [ 51 ] In 2008, UAH 3.4 million was given to compensate the victims and people whose relatives died in the blasts at Akhmetov ‘s Krasnolimanskaya and Karla Marksa coal mines. [ 52 ] [ 53 ] A far UAH 600,000 was given to relatives of 6 miners killed in a methane blast at the Duvannaya coal mine. [ 54 ] Akhmetov ‘s clientele empire has benefited enormously from his access to power. [ 55 ] Forbes reports that in January 2014, for case, his businesses won 31 % of all state tenders. [ 55 ] In March 2017, after the DPR leadership announced that it would establish external control over all ukrainian businesses in the republic ‘s responsibility zone, Akhmetov released a instruction saying that his businesses in the Donetsk and Lugansk People ‘s Republics ( DPR and LPR ) would remain under ukrainian jurisdiction and would not pay taxes to “ self-proclaimed LPR and DPR ”. [ 56 ] In April 2017, a court in Pechersk, Kyiv seized Akhmetov ‘s shares in Ukrtelecom and TriMob, telephone and cellular telephone companies owned by Akhmetov. The assets seized were part of an probe into the denationalization of Ukrtelecom in 2011 and Akhmetov ‘s ties to Victor Yanukovich, exiled to Russia in 2014. SCM has denied all allegations and issued a statement saying they would defend their ownership rights. [ 57 ] On 19 October 2017, the state ruled that Akhmetov was to return all ownership rights to the department of state and pay a very well of $ 82 million for failing to fulfill denationalization obligations. [ 58 ] In December 2017, as character of the Ukrtelecom ownership legal battle, a court in Cyprus issued an order to freeze $ 820 million in assets held by Akhmetov. In January 2018, a dutch woo issued an order, based on the lapp litigation, to “ freeze SCM ‘s Netherlands-registered businesses, which include Ukraine ‘s largest steel company Metinvest and largest private ability and coal producer, DTEK. ” [ 59 ] [ 60 ] In June 2018 the Ukraine Supreme Economic Court ruled against the renationalization of Ukrtelecom and Akhemtov controls possession of the company through SCM Holdings. [ 61 ] In September of the same year Akhmetov was criticized over environmental concerns faced by residents of Mariupol caused by two steel plants, Ilyich Iron and Steel Works Plant and the Azov Stal Steel Plant, both owned by Metinvest. [ 62 ]

wealth [edit ]

Rinat Akhmetov has been number one in Korrespondent magazine annual Ukraine ‘s top 50 richest people rat with the calculate wealth of :

  • 2006 – $11.8 bn[63]
  • 2007 – $15.6 bn[64]
  • 2008 – $31.1 bn[65]
  • 2009 – $9.6 bn[66]
  • 2010 – $17.8 bn[67]
  • 2011 – $25.6 bn[68]
  • 2012 – $17.8 bn[69]
  • 2013 – $18.3 bn[70]
  • 2014 – $10.1 bn[71]
  • 2019 – $7.7 bn[72]
  • 2020 – $7.7 bn[73]
  • 2021 – $8.5 bn[74]

Forbes ‘ The World ‘s Billionaires evaluation :

  • 2006 – No. 451 with a net worth of $1.7 bil[75]
  • 2007 – No. 214 with $4.0 bn[76]
  • 2008 – No. 127 with $7.3 bn[77]
  • 2009 – No. 397 with $1.8 bn[78]
  • 2010 – No. 148 with $5.2 bn[79]
  • 2011 – No. 39 with $16 bn.[11]
  • 2012 – No. 39 with $16 bn.[11]
  • 2013 – No. 47 with $15.4 bn.[11]
  • 2015 – No. 201 with $6.7 bn.[80]
  • 2016 – No. 771 with $3.4 bn.[81]
  • 2017 – No. 359 with $4.6 bn[82]
  • 2018 – No. 334 with $5.5 bn[83]
  • 2019 – No. 272 with $6 bn[84]
  • 2020 – No. 875 with $2.4 bn[85]
  • 2021 – No. 327 with $7.6 bn[86]

In 2018 Akhmetov ‘s fortune was valued at approx. $ 5.9 billion. Bloomberg reported that he was the richest person in Ukraine and that he had regained all of his losses suffered after the conflict with Russia in 2013–2014. [ 87 ]

political activeness [edit ]

Akhmetov has been noted as a financier and unofficial leader of the Party of Regions political party. [ 33 ] [ 37 ] Following the Orange Revolution, Akhmetov was pivotal in arranging a lasting kinship between his employee and close friend Paul Manafort and defeated presidential campaigner Viktor Yanukovich. [ 88 ] besides, Akhmetov ensured proper translation services for Manafort through Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russia Army trained linguist and know russian news operative that operates Manafort ‘s function in Kyiv. [ 89 ] Kilimnik has been central to collecting fees owed to Manafort ‘s ship’s company by the Russia-friendly political party called Opposition Bloc. [ 89 ] In a 13 September 2007 diplomatic cable released between big ukrainian occupation partners Serhiy Taruta, Vitaliy Haiduk, and U.S. ambassador William Taylor, Taruta alleged that Akhmetov had in 1997 carry ukrainian president of the united states Leonid Kuchma to appoint Viktor Yanukovych governor of Donetsk oblast, who then in turn made Haiduk his deputy. [ 33 ] In follow up of the released cables, Akhmetov ‘s spokesperson refused comment and Haiduk denied the conversation taking space. [ 33 ] Akhmetov was elected as a member of Ukraine ‘s Verkhovna Rada ( fantan ) during the 2006 ukrainian parliamentary election as a member of the Party of Regions. [ 12 ] [ 23 ] [ 90 ] Akhmetov was reelected during the 2007 parliamentary election again as a member of the Party of Regions. [ 26 ] [ 91 ] however, he entirely appeared once in the Verkhovna Rada build during his inauguration. [ 90 ] Leader of the party ‘s cabal in the Verkhovna Rada, Oleksander Yefremov, has mentioned that Rinat Akhmetov provides “ substantive support ” to the faction by providing what he referred to as “ functioning adept groups he established that are counseling on draft laws ”. [ 92 ] [ 93 ] In December 2011 Akhmetov announced he was not going to participate in the 2012 parliamentary election. [ 94 ] U.S. diplomatic cables revealed that Akhmetov posted $ 2 million bail in 2007 for the release of three members of the Party of Regions, including erstwhile Sumy Governor Volodymyr Shcherban, who was accused of election rig, extortion, tax evasion and pervert of office. [ 95 ] The Russian-language newspaper Segodnya, owned by Akhmetov, has drawn criticism for its alleged mandate favor coverage of certain politicians and public figures, the journalists at the wallpaper admitted. [ 96 ] [ 97 ]

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reaction to the south-eastern conflict in Ukraine [edit ]

Akhmetov has denied claims made by Pavel Gubarev ( self-proclaimed “ People ‘s Governor ” of the Donetsk People ‘s Republic ) in an consultation published in the russian collectivist newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta on 12 May 2014. [ 98 ] [ 99 ] According to Gubarev, Akhmetov has financed the breakaway motion in the region, and that the separatists “ all took money ” from Akhmetov and others, saying that “ As it turned out, two-thirds of the activists were supported by the oligarch Akhmetov ”. [ 98 ] On 10 May 2014, Akhmetov ‘s Metinvest ship’s company announced it would be forming an unarmed militia of steelmaker employees to stop loot by separatists and criminals in the city of Mariupol. [ 98 ] [ 100 ] In a 19 May ( 2014 ) breaking news program message on Ukrayina TV Akhmetov claimed the representative “ of this Donetsk People ‘s Republic “ were committing “ genocide of Donbas “. [ 15 ] At his first step the adjacent day a alleged Peace March was held in the stadium Donbass Arena in Donetsk accompanied by cars beeping their horns at noon. [ 15 ] Akhmetov has vowed that “ siren [ will be ] ringing every day at noon across all of Donbas until peace is established ”. [ 15 ] Akhmetov is helping the victims of the War in Donbas in South-Eastern Ukraine. As of March 2014 he had allocated UAH 35 million. [ 101 ] [ 102 ] for this aid. The Rinat Akhmetov Humanitarian Centre was established in August 2014 to provide maximum aid to all civilians of Donetsk and Luhansk Regions affected by the military actions. The Centre has pooled resources of the Foundation and all SCM Group ‘s businesses and FC Shakhtar. [ 103 ] The activeness of the Centre is dedicated to fiscal, humanitarian, checkup and psychological aid for the victims of the dispute in the South-Eastern Ukraine and elimination from the hot spots in the East of Ukraine. [ 102 ] [ 104 ] In August 2014 Akhmetov ‘s Foundation for Development of Ukraine besides started a new particular project called human-centered Aid Drives. [ 105 ] The determination of this stick out is the regular manner of speaking of food and children ‘s packages to Donbas. As of October 2016 over 10 million food packages were provided to IDPs and residents of 57 districts and settlements of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. [ 106 ] The package includes flour, sugar, cereals, oats, tinned foods, sunflower oil, stew, pasta, canned corn, gingerbreads and condense milk. Akhmetov besides made numerous statements, since March 2014, appealing for integrity of Ukraine and finding peaceful solutions of the crisis. [ 15 ] [ 107 ] He believes decentralization should be part of this passive solution. [ 107 ] In March 2017 protesters attacked Akhmetov ‘s offices in Russian controlled areas. [ 108 ] Pro-Russian separatists in the Donbas region seized control of companies owned by energy conglomerate DTEK and steel ship’s company Metinvest both owned by Akhmetov. In addition, companies in the region controlled by the Luhansk People ‘s Republic ( LPR ) took control of several Akhmetov owned companies. [ 109 ] stay protests throughout 2017 have led to allegations of corruption and profiteering between Akhmetov and President Petro Poroshenko specifically over pricing for domestic coal suppliers and the buyout of DTEK debts by the government. [ 110 ]

Alleged coup affair [edit ]

In November 2021 Ukrainian president of the united states Volodymyr Zelensky accused Akhmetov of being enlisted to help plan a coup against him by Russia. [ 111 ] Akhmetov has denied these claims calling the allegations “ an absolute lie. ” The allegations were the completion of a challenge between Zelensky and Akhmetov as partially of Zelensky anti-corruption clean-up efforts. Akhmetov is besides a note opposition of Zelensky as his television channels backed one of his opponents in the 2019 election has been increasing critical in coverage of Zelensky. specially since the government failed to reimburse one of his energy company subsidiaries for green energy purchased by state companies. [ 112 ] [ 113 ]

Sports and condescension [edit ]

Akhmetov with players of FC Shakhtar Donetsk Following the mysterious October 1995 bombing assassination of former team president Akhat Bragin at the team ‘s stadium, Akhmetov ( who had served as Bragin ‘s right man and himself narrowly missed the attempt on his life ), [ 114 ] subsequently inherited operation of the Shakhtar Donetsk football baseball club. On 11 October 1996, Akhmetov was appointed president of the united states of the team [ 115 ] Rinat Akhmetov envisioned Shakhtar as a achiever of european cups, so he began restructuring the cabaret to achieve this goal. He changed the set about to the club management and transferred the operational management to the professionals. [ 116 ] Under his leadership, FC Shakhtar became the country ‘s supporter thirteen times, won the ukrainian Cup thirteen times, took the ukrainian Super Cup nine times, and won the UEFA Europa League Cup for the first clock in the history of Ukraine. [ 117 ] [ 118 ] In 2009, Donbas Arena stadium was built in Donetsk at Rinat Akhmetov ‘s inaugural. It ’ s the first stadium in Eastern Europe that was designed and built to the elite UEFA standards ; its capacitance is over 50,000 people. [ 119 ] Donbas Arena was named the best stadium of Euro 2012. [ 120 ] It ranks among 25 best stadiums in the history of the Champions League. [ 121 ] FC Shakhtar had to leave its home city of Donetsk due to the War in Donbas in Ukraine. Since the spring of 2014, its train base has been located in Kyiv. The team changed multiple base stadiums, moving to Lviv ( Arena Lviv, 2014-2017 ), Kharkiv ( Metalist, 2017-2020 ), and finally Kyiv ( NSC Olimpiyskiy, since 2020 ). [ 122 ] [ 123 ] [ 124 ] meanwhile, from August 2014 and until losing master of the stadium in 2017 the club ‘s home plate stadium Donbas Arena served as a center of humanitarian aid in Donetsk. [ 125 ] Volunteers were unloading the food products, forming the individual sets and passing them to people in need there. [ 126 ] During the fighting the Donbas Arena was badly damaged as a resultant role of shelling several times, the human-centered care distribution was continued. [ 127 ] In March 2017, a spokesperson for Akhmetov ‘s basis reported that human-centered help had been discontinued in the area after maverick organizations blocked access to the Shakhtar FC stadium, which serves as a center for respite efforts in the area. [ 128 ]

personal life sentence [edit ]

Rinat Akhmetov is married to Liliya Nikolaievna Smirnova ( hold 1965 ), and has two sons with her, Damir ( yield 1988 ) and Almir ( bear 1997 ). [ 12 ] Akhmetov owns London ‘s most expensive penthouse at One Hyde Park, which was primitively purchased for a report $ 213 million as a portfolio investment and exhausted another reported $ 120 million to fix them up. [ 129 ] The information about the deal was disclosed merely four years later, in April 2011, after the asset has shown a steady annual rise. [ 130 ] [ 131 ] [ 132 ] In May 2013, the property was transferred from his company, SCM, to himself. [ 133 ]

philanthropy [edit ]

Akhmetov is involved with charities that support ukrainian citizens. [ 134 ] Akhmetov established the Foundation for Development of Ukraine in 2005, which is “ determined to eliminate the roots of social problems ” in Ukraine. [ 135 ] In 2008, it has been reported that within future 5 years the Organization planned to spend $ 150 million to fulfill its programs. [ 136 ] In 2007, Akhmetov founded the Foundation for Effective Governance ( FEG ) [ 137 ] to support economic development of Ukraine. Founded with a finish to improve the standard of surviving of each ukrainian citizen ; [ 138 ] it was shut down in January 2014 amid protests against Akhmetov. [ 139 ] In 2008, Akhmetov donated UAH 258,600 million to jacob’s ladder, that made him the No.2 in a list of top ten businessmen who donated for charity in 2008. [ 140 ] In the follow year, ukrainian business weekly “ Kontrakty ” named Akhmetov the top businessmen-philanthropist in Ukraine. [ 141 ] In 2010, Akhmetov ‘s entire charitable contributions amounted to UAH 155,65 million, making him No. 1 philanthropist in Ukraine. [ 142 ] For 2011, Akhmetov donated UAH 222.7 million to jacob’s ladder. [ 143 ] Starting from the year 2000, Rinat Akhmetov and his acquaintance Igor Krutoy have been involved in a jacob’s ladder political campaign on Saint Nicholas ‘ Day in Donetsk and Donetsk Oblast, visiting children deprived of parental care, orphans and children in hospitals. [ 144 ] In 2012, he donated $ 19 million to build an oncology research concentrate. [ 145 ] Akhmetov ‘ wage for being a member of Ukraine ‘s Verkhovna Rada ( parliament ) was traditionally deferred to charity. [ 138 ]

luminary donations [edit ]

  • In October 2007, nearly $900,000 was donated to families of victims of a gas explosion that tore through an apartment complex in Dnipropetrovsk.[146]
  • In April 2011, Rinat Akhmetov decided to allocate $1 million to support the “Shelter Project”, for construction of the new safe confinement to cover reactor No. 4 at Chernobyl.[147][148][149]
  • In April 2011, after the earthquake in Japan in March 2011, FC Shakhtar Donetsk donated 1 million U.S. dollars to victims of the disaster,[150][151] saying “this is a terrible tragedy and its scope is really international. The Ukrainians, who experienced Chernobyl, understand Japanese people. Unfortunately, we cannot return thousands of lives, but what we can really help those, who survived and stayed alive.”[152]
  • Since September 2014, during the War in Donbas, his staff provided more than 12 million food packages to residents of the Donbas, helped over 1,150,000 people, and evacuated over 39,000 people from the conflict zone.[153]

In 2016, Akhmetov as owner of football team Shaktar Donetsk, visited children ‘s hospitals and orphanages on St Nicholas Day, delivering gifts to about 140,000 children. [ citation needed ]

Controversies [edit ]

Euromaidan [edit ]

During the 2013–14 Euromaidan anti-government protests, Akhmetov became a target of protest as he was seen as a symbol of oppression. In December 2013 protesters picketed his residence in London on respective occasions, urging him to cut ties with incumbent president Viktor Yanukovych. [ 154 ] In response, Akhmetov issued a instruction condemning police brutality. On 31 December, Akhmetov reprimanded a group of protesters in public near his base in Donetsk. [ 155 ] Following the Euromaidan revolution Akhmetov lost more than half of his wealth. His net value went down from $ 11.2 billion to $ 2.9 billion in 2017. [ 156 ] News reports suggest that much of his former wealth has been redistributed to russian oligarch. [ 157 ]

Disputes in the media [edit ]

When dealing with populace criticism and allegations concerning his by, Akhmetov has utilized a team of PR consultants and lawyers to protect his double and name. His team much contests reports on him that they consider to be calumniatory, disgraceful, or inaccurate. To date, his legal team has obtained many retractions, apologies, and libel settlements. [ 25 ] Critics accuse Akhmetov of going beyond protecting his name, but preferably fear mongering fact-finding journalists. [ 25 ] As many court cases occur in London for its lax rid address laws, critics accuse Akhmetov and his legal team of maltreatment of libel tourism. [ 25 ] In January 2008, Akhmetov won a London libel woo character “ for wrong to his reputation ” for such claims, [ 28 ] while several other statements about his “ criminal past ” have been retracted by the media. In a statement issued by Akhmetov ‘s lawyer Mark MacDougall, “ Akhmetov has done a set of work to protect his good name from false accusations, which might hurt the reputation of his family and business. As the leave of it, many publications in Ukraine and early european countries had published retractions and apologies… [ and ] admitted that their claims are false. We think that these facts speak for themselves ”. [ 28 ] In 2007, the Kyiv Post, the primary english linguistic process casual newspaper in Ukraine, published an article relating to Mr. Akhmetov ‘s clientele transactions relating to the Dniproenergo thermoelectric generator and the Kryvorizhstal steel grind. [ 158 ] The newspaper published an apology stating that “ on closer interrogation, we concluded these allegations [ clarification needed ] relating to Mr. Akhmetov were untrue and have no basis in fact. ” [ 158 ] In 2007, the german language swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung ( “ NZZ ” ) retracted calumniatory statements from published earlier article regarding Mr. Akhmetov ‘s early commercial enterprise career in the 1990s, noting that “ there is no association between Akhmetov … and organized crime in Ukraine ” and “ [ deoxythymidine monophosphate ] he economic success of Akhmetov is not based by any means on criminally acquired starting capital. ” [ 29 ] In 2008, a judgment was obtained from the High Court of Justice in London after Obozrevatel, a ukrainian language Internet publication refused to retract delusive and calumniatory statements alleging that Mr. Akhmetov was connected to condemnable natural process and violence. The Obozrevatel reporter ( Tetiana Chornovol ) [ 159 ] interviewed his former classmates and neighbors, and delved into his early years. [ 25 ] Following court atmospheric pressure Obozrevatel issued an official apology submit : “ The editorial hereby admits that there was unbridled and assumed information about Rinat Akhmetov present in the … articles … We hereby give our apologies to Rinat Akhmetov for the problems resulted from the above-mentioned publications. ” [ 160 ] [ 161 ] Tetiana Chornovol, who has political ambitions, refused to issue an apology or acknowledge any wrongdoing. [ 159 ] The web site GoLocalProv.com, based in Providence, Rhode Island, published in 2010 allegations that Akhmetov had ties to organized crime. [ 162 ] Subsequently, PolitiFact engaged in a review of the allegations on GoLocalProv ‘s locate and disputed the sources on which they were based, stating that “ key elements of the [ GoLocalProv ] history are false or unproved ” and that the story presented “ suspicions, suggestions, insinuation, and conspiracy theories ” as fact. [ 162 ] The GoLocalProv articles and audio curtly after their publication were removed from the locate. The publisher, Josh Fenton, explained that they disappeared for “ technical reasons ” and the radio post which aired the consultation containing the allegations refused gloss. [ 25 ] In 2010, the french daily newspaper Le Figaro issued a retraction of fake allegations it published on 18 January 2010 regarding Rinat Akhmetov, due to a miss of testify to support their claims, and issued an apology. [ 163 ] [ 164 ] [ 165 ] Le Figaro had claimed that Akhmetov was “ a disgraceful ukrainian oligarch ” and that he was “ a bandit in the past ”. [ 165 ] In 2013, Akhmetov ‘s legal representatives issued a press release in response to accusations in the media, which cited politicians and journalists, that implicate Akhmetov in the 1996 murder of Donetsk-based ukrainian oligarch Yevhen Shcherban. The official affirmation stated that they “ have not found any proof suggesting that Akhmetov was involved in Scherban ‘s or early businessmen ‘s killings. To be honest, some of the businessmen killed in the 1990s were Mr. Akhmetov ‘s close friends. ” [ 166 ]

connection to Donald Trump ‘s 2016 crusade [edit ]

In January 2019, Paul Manafort ‘s lawyers submitted a filing to the court, in response to the Robert Mueller Special Counsel ‘s accusation that Manafort had lied to investigators while purportedly co-operating with the investigation. Through an erroneousness in frame, the text file by chance revealed that while Manafort was Donald Trump ‘s crusade president, Manafort met with Konstantin Kilimnik, gave Kilimnik polling data related to Donald Trump ‘s 2016 United States Presidential campaign, and discussed a Ukraine-Russia peace plan for the Russo-Ukrainian War with Kilimnik. As a russian Main Intelligence Directorate GRU agent, Konstantin Kilimnik is known extremity of Russia ‘s intelligence community. [ 167 ] [ a ] Although most of the poll data was reportedly populace, some was secret Trump campaign polling data managed by Brad Parscale. [ 170 ] [ 171 ] [ barn ] Manafort asked Kilimnik to pass the datum to Ukrainians Serhiy Lyovochkin and Rinat Akhmetov. [ 172 ] [ 173 ]

Awards [edit ]

See besides [edit ]

Notes [edit ]

References [edit ]