Igor Sechin

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Igor Sechin
Игорь Иванович Сечин
Sechin Headshot.jpg
CEO of Rosneft
Assumed office
23 May 2012
Preceded byEduard Khudainatov
Deputy Prime Minister of Russia
In office
12 May 2008 – 21 May 2012
Personal details
Born
Igor Ivanovich Sechin

(1960-09-07) 7 September 1960 (age 59)
Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
NationalityRussian
ResidenceMoscow
Salary~$17,500,000 (2014)[1]

Igor Ivanovich Sechin (Russian: Игорь Иванович Сечин; born 7 September 1960) is a Russian official, considered a close ally and "de facto deputy" of Vladimir Putin.[2] Sechin is often described as one of Putin's most conservative counselors and the leader of the Kremlin's Siloviki faction, a lobby gathering former security services agents.[3][4][5][a] Until 21 May 2012, he served as Deputy Prime Minister of Russia in Vladimir Putin's cabinet,[citation needed] and he is currently the Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman of the Management Board of Rosneft, the Russian state oil company.[6]

Career[edit]

Igor Sechin graduated from Leningrad State University in 1984 as a linguist, fluent in Portuguese and French.[7] In the 1980s, Sechin worked in Mozambique. He was officially a Soviet interpreter.[8] From 1991 to 1996, he worked at Saint Petersburg mayor's office, and became a chief of staff of the first deputy mayor, Vladimir Putin in 1994. From 1996 to 1997, Sechin served as a deputy of Vladimir Putin, who worked in the presidential property management department. From 1997 to 1998, Sechin was the chief of the general department of the main control directorate attached to the president, led by Putin. In August 1999, he was appointed head of the secretariat of the prime minister of Russia, Putin. From 24 November 1999 until 11 January 2000, Sechin was the first deputy chief of the Russian presidential administration.

Between 31 December 1999 and May 2008, he was deputy chief of Putin's administration. In May 2008, he was appointed by President Dmitry Medvedev as a deputy prime minister in a move considered as a demotion.[9] According to Stratfor, "Sechin acts as boss of Russia’s gigantic state oil company Rosneft and commands the loyalty of the FSB. Thus, he represents the FSB’s hand in Russia’s energy sector."[10]

Since 27 July 2004, Sechin has been the successful and influential chairman of the board of directors of JSC Rosneft, which swallowed up the assets of jailed tycoon Khodorkovsky's Yukos. He has additionally been president of Rosneft since May 2012. Khodorkovsky has accused Igor Sechin of plotting to have him arrested and plundering his oil company: "The second as well as the first case were organised by Igor Sechin. He orchestrated the first case against me out of greed and the second out of cowardice." [11] In 2008, Sechin allegedly blocked the replacement of the AAR consortium[clarification needed] with Gazprom in the TNK-BP joint venture.[12]

In 2008, Igor Sechin was involved with the BP oil company and did private negotiations with the BP's CEO Bob Dudley.[13] In 2008, Hugo Chávez said that the idea for Venezuelan nuclear energy program came from Sechin. Sechin negotiated deals on weapons and nuclear technology deliveries to Venezuela.[14][15] In July 2009, Sechin negotiated deals with Cuba that brought Russia into deep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.[16]

Sechin also presides over the Board of Directors of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, and helped with negotiations with France over the purchase of four Mistral-class ships. Sechin argued that two ships should be constructed in Russia and two in France, as opposed to the initial offer that only one be constructed in Russia.[17] Piotr Żochowski, of the Polish Center for Eastern Studies, argued that "it cannot be ruled out that Sechin's stance on this issue results from his personal financial involvement in the St Petersburg shipbuilding industry".[17]

On 20 March 2014, the United States government sanctioned Sechin in response to the Russian government's role in the ongoing unrest in Ukraine. The sanctions include a travel ban to the United States, freezing of all assets of Sechin in the United States and a ban on business transactions between American citizens and corporations and Sechin and businesses he owns.[18][19]

In December 2014, a CNBC article noted that Sechin is "widely believed to be Russia's second-most powerful person" after President Putin.[20] In December 2017, The Guardian noted that Sechin "is widely seen as the second most powerful man in Russia after Vladimir Putin".[21]

Sechin was instrumental in the arrest and trial of Putin’s former minister of economy, Alexei Ulyukaev, charged and found guilty of soliciting a bribe from Igor Sechin. The verdict was delivered after hearing testimony from Sechin in a closed trial,[22] and is another indicator, according to The Financial times, of the power wielded by Sechin in Russian politics.[23]

In November 2018, Sechin released a statement at the first Russian-Chinese Energy Business Forum in Beijing, about increased levels of cooperation between Rosneft and Chinese owned energy companies, citing “increased protectionism and threats of trade wars” as a reason for the cooperation.[24][25] Agreements of cooperation were signed between Rosneft and Chinese Hengli Group and include expansion in exploration as well as production and refining.[26]

Personal life[edit]

Igor Sechin is married, and has a daughter, Inga (b 1982). Inga married Dmitry Ustinov (b. 1979), a Russian intelligence agent and graduate of the FSB Academy[27] and son of former Prosecutor General and current Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Southern Federal District Vladimir Ustinov,[b] in 2003. Inga and Dmitry had a son on 4 July 2005.[28][29] She divorced him and, later, she married Timerbulat Karimov (Russian: Тимербулат Каримов) (b. 1974), a former investment banker and senior vice-president of VTB Bank from October 2011 until February 2014. He is on the board of directors for the Russian Copper Company (Russian: АО «Русская медная компания») which is the third largest in Russia and owned by Igor Altushkin. Since September 2015, she is the only owner of the Moscow based company Khoroshiye Lyudi or Good People (Russian: ООО «Хорошие люди»), which on 4 December 2015, became a 40% owner of the Novgorod Agropark (Russian: ООО «Новгородский агропарк»),[c] a turkey farm located in Veliky Novgorod.[30][31][32][33]

After the demotion of Vladimir Ustinov in 2006, Sechin reportedly arranged the appointment of Alexander Bastrykin, another ally of his, as Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor General's Office in 2007 in order to retain his influence.[34][35][36]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Other siloviki close to Sechin include Nikolai Patrushev, Alexander Bortnikov, and Viktor Ivanov.[5]
  2. ^ In 2010, Vladimir Ustinov's daughter and Dmitry Ustinov's sister, Irina Dmitrievna Ustinova (Russian: Устинова Ирина Дмитриевна) lived in Sochi and is an assistant prosecutor in south Russia's Khostinsky district (Russian: Хостинский район), a district of the city of Sochi.[27]
  3. ^ The other owners are 40% by Ildus Fahretdinov through an Ufa "Investment Company" LLC (Russian: ООО «Инвестиционная компания») and 20% by Oleg Chernyavsky through the Moscow "Negotsiant TK" LLC (Russian: ООО «Негоциант ТК»).[30] In 2015, Russia produced nearly 150 thousand tons of turkey by slaughter weight. The Novgorod Agropark expects to produce from 22 to 30 thousand tons per year.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Berezanskaya, Elena (19 November 2015). 25 самых дорогих руководителей компаний: ежегодный рейтинг [The 25 Most Expensive Company Executives: Annual Rating] (in Russian). Forbes.ru.
  2. ^ The Guardian. 12 January 2017. Page 6.
  3. ^ Hahn, Gordon (21 July 2008). "The Siloviki Downgraded. In Russia's New Configuration of Power". Archived from the original on 31 December 2010. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  4. ^ "Igor Sechin, head of Rosneft, is powerful as never before". The Economist. 15 December 2016. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  5. ^ a b Harding, Luke (21 December 2007). "Putin, the Kremlin power struggle and the $40bn fortune". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  6. ^ Hussain, Yadullah (10 March 2020). "Meet the Russian oil tycoon who likely triggered the Riyadh-Moscow oil war". Financial Post, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.
  7. ^ "Игорь Сечин: Путин везде берет его с собою" [Igor Sechin: Putin takes him everywhere with him]. news.ru (in Russian). 18 May 2005. Archived from the original on 8 June 2008. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  8. ^ Сечин, Игорь. [Sechin, Igor] (in Russian). Lenta.ru.
  9. ^ A Lineup Aimed at Taming Siloviki Archived 31 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine. The Sunday Times. 15 May 2008.
  10. ^ Russia: The FSB Branches Out. Stratfor. 16 May 2008.
  11. ^ Jailed tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky ‘framed’ by key Putin aide. The Sunday Times. 18 May 2008.
  12. ^ BP, Russian billionaires, and the Kremlin: a Power Triangle that never was. "Oxford Energy Comment". November 2011. Accessed 24 November 2011.
  13. ^ TNK-BP Is Hurting Russia. Archived 7 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
  14. ^ Russia Offers Venezuela's Chavez Weapons, Nuclear Cooperation. Bloomberg. 25 September 2008.
  15. ^ Russia Plans Nuclear Plant in Venezuela. The New York Times. 10 October 2010.
  16. ^ Russia to drill for oil off Cuba. BBC News. 29 July 2009.
  17. ^ a b Piotr Żochowski, Russia's interest in the Mistral: the political and military aspects. Center for Eastern Studies website. 11 November 2010.
  18. ^ "Announcement Of Additional Treasury Sanctions On Russian Government Officials And Entities". US Department of the treasury.
  19. ^ "Executive Order - Blocking Property of Additional Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine". The White House - Office of the Press Secretary.
  20. ^ Peleschuk, Dan (24 December 2014). "Think it's just Putin who runs Russia? Guess again". CNBC. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  21. ^ "Ex-minister's harsh jail sentence sends shockwaves through Russian elite". The Guardian. 15 December 2017. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  22. ^ "Rosneft chief Sechin gives testimony in $2mn bribe trial of ex-economy minister". RT International. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  23. ^ "'We need to talk about Igor': the rise of Russia's most powerful oligarch". Financial Times (subscription required). 28 February 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  24. ^ "Protectionism, trade wars motivate Russia and China to step up cooperation — Rosneft head". TASS (in Russian). Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  25. ^ Ellyatt, Holly (29 November 2018). "Business leaders hail Russia's booming energy ties with China". www.cnbc.com. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  26. ^ "Rosneft and Chinese Hengli Group signed a cooperation agreement, that includes E&P projects". www.worldoil.com. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  27. ^ a b "Высокопоставленные наследники: Чем занимаются жены и дети российского премьера, его заместителей и полпредов президента?" [High Ranking Heirs: What do the wives and children of the Russian prime minister, his deputies and presidential plenipotentiaries do?]. ladno.ru (in Russian). 26 October 2010. Archived from the original on 15 April 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  28. ^ "Дочь Игоря Сечина родила от сына Владимира Устинова" [Igor Sechin's daughter gave birth to his son Vladimir Ustinov] (in Russian). newsru.com. 8 July 2005. Archived from the original on 1 July 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  29. ^ "Igor Sechin has grandson" (in Russian). Moskovskij Komsomolets. 8 July 2005. Archived from the original on 19 March 2007. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  30. ^ a b "Семейный бизнес лучше банковского: Тимербулат Каримов покинул ВТБ" [Family business is better than banking: Timerbulat Karimov left VTB]. Kommersant. 6 February 2014. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  31. ^ Osipov, Anton (3 October 2011). "Тимербулат Каримов стал старшим вице-президентом ВТБ" [Timerbulat Karimov became Senior Vice President of VTB] (in Russian). Vedomosti. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  32. ^ "Тимербулат Каримов: Член совета директоров АО «Русская медная компания»" [Timerbulat Karimov: Member of the Board of Directors of JSC Russian Copper Company] (in Russian). Atlanty. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  33. ^ Burlakova, Ekaterina (25 May 2016). "заинтересовалась производством индейки: Компания, совладельцем которой является Инга Каримова, дочь главы «Роснефти» Игоря Сечина, собирается инвестировать в производство индейки в Новгородской области объемом около 30 тыс. т в год" [Sechin's daughter company interested in turkey production: The company, co-owned by Inga Karimova, the daughter of the head of Rosneft Igor Sechin, is going to invest in the production of turkey in the Novgorod region of about 30 thousand tons per year] (in Russian). RBC. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  34. ^ Бастрыкин, Александр [Bastrykin, Alexander] (in Russian). Lenta.ru.
  35. ^ Однокашник президента возглавит прокурорское следствие [Presidential classmate will lead the prosecution investigation] (in Russian). Kommersant.ru. 22 June 2007.
  36. ^ Stanovaya, Tatyana (22 June 2007). Сечинский комитет при Генпрокуратуре [Sechin committee at the Prosecutor General’s Office] (in Russian). Politcom.ru.

External links[edit]

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