The Biography:
Born October 24, 1966; after the death of his parents (mother Irina Vasilievna and father Arkady Nakhimovich) he was brought up in a family of his uncle - Leib Nakhimovich - in Ukhta, and later lived with his second uncle - Abram Nakhimovich - in Moscow.
After graduating from high school went to study at the Industrial Institute in Ukhta, Komi ASSR; after the first course was called up for the military service in the Soviet Army, served as a common soldier in Artillery Regiment troop, was discharged in 1986
He studied in the Moscow Automobile and Road Institute on the job (according to other sources, he studied in the I.M.Gubkin Moscow Institute of Petrochemical and Gas Industry). In 2000 he graduated from Moscow State Law Academy.
From 1987 to 1989 - mechanic of construction administration # 122 of the trust "Mosspetsmontazh"
1989 -1991 - Head of the cooperative "Comfort" (toys made of polymers)
1991 - 1993 - Director of a small business "ABK" (Moscow)
1993-1996 - Head of Moscow Representative Office of the company Runicom S.A. (Switzerland)
1993 - 1995 - Director of JSC "Petroltrans"
1996-1997 - Director of the Moscow branch of JSC Sibneft, in 1996, was introduced to the Board of Directors of JSC Siberian Oil Company, since 1997 – the same post on a permanent basis, filed a statement of withdrawal from the board of directors of Sibneft during election campaign for the State Duma in 1999.
19 December 1999 was elected to the State Duma of the third convocation of Chukotka single-mandate constituency № 223 (scored about 60% of the vote), in the Duma did not belong to any of factions or deputy groups, and he was a member of the Committee on Problems of the North and Far East.
December 24, 2000 was first elected governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Disctrict, gaining over 90% of votes.
In October 2005 the President of Russia proposed the candidacy of Abramovich to the Duma of Chukotka for giving him authority of the governor. Members unanimously endorsed the candidacy of Abramovich.
December 20, 2006, Roman Abramovich turned to Vladimir Putin asking to terminate his office as governor, but the resignation was not accepted.
July 3, 2008 President Dmitry Medvedev accepted the resignation of Roman Abramovich.
October 12, 2008 he was elected to the District Chukotka Duma, gaining 96.99% of the votes. October, 22 was approved to be chairman of the Duma of the Chukotka Autonomous District.
He was married twice. His first wife was Lysova Olga, a native of the city of Astrakhan. The second wife was a former stewardess - Irina (n?e Malandina). In the second marriage Abramovich has got five children. In March 2007 he was divorced in Chukotka district court, at the place of registration. Currently, Abramovich is dating with designer Daria Zhukova, who on December 5, 2009 gave a birth to a son named Aaron Alexander.
According to the annual rating of the richest people in the world published by U.S. magazine Forbes, in March 2009 the entrepreneur took the 51st place in a list of billionaires of the world. And also took second place in the list of Russian billionaires with a capital of $ 8.5 billion, after Mikhail Prokhorov with a capital of $ 29.5 billion in April 2008. According to the the conservative estimates published in Sunday Times in January 2009, Abramovich's fortune declined as a result of the financial crisis on 3 billion pounds - up to 8.7 billion pounds.
(Wikipedia)
The Dossier:
Roman Abramovich began to engage in commerce in 1992, within a few years he established five companies on production of petroleum products and brokerage services. At the beginning the businessman almost landed in jail for embezzlement. In July 1992 a criminal case number 79067 on theft of diesel fuel from the Ukhta refinery in especially large amount of nearly $ 4 million rubles was opened against Abramovich. As it came out during investigation, Abramovich bought fuel on false documents, and then got rid of it in Riga, where it was realized through the shell structure. Deputy Prosecutor of Moscow sanctioned the arrest of Abramovich. But Roman Abramovich miraculously escaped from criminal liability. The reasons for his impunity were going to be understood much later, when it became known of his relations at the highest political level.
The name of Roman Abramovich appeared in the press only at the end of the 90's, when Abramovich started buying actively the real estate abroad, as it is known today for his political masters - the family of the first president of Russia Boris Yeltsin. In 1998 Korzhakov called Roman Abramovich "purse of the Yeltsin family” at a press conference, then everybody got interested in Abramovich.
By that time, Mr. Abramovich had already entered a big oil business, which was a great merit of Boris Berezovsky, the "gray cardinal" of Yeltsin, the one who led Vladimir Putin to power. In 1995 Berezovsky waged a tough fight for possession of "Sibneft" and needed a resourceful assistant. (Professional qualities made delighted Yeltsin's daughter Tatyana Dyachenko, who pronounced eulogies in her blog on "talented, bright, exceptionally decent and loyal" Roman Abramovich)
Yeltsin's daughter described how Abramovich became a billionaire - NEWSru.com, 28.12.2009
In 1995 Berezovsky and Abramovich created JSC "P.K. – Trust”, then Abramovich established ten firms during a year to buy shares of Sibneft. In 1996 Abramovich headed the Moscow office of Sibneft. The privatization of Sibneft was held at the standard scheme of the 90’s through organization of "shares auctions”. In fact, contests on the sale of the companies’ shares went without any competition - all the firms applying for Sibneft were close to Abramovich (as a result he became a real owner of the company, having at least 36% of the shares). Sibneft was but bought for 250 million dollars, while the state received less than 2,7 billion dollars.
After having acquired Sibneft, Abramovich began to buy up controlling stakes in subsidiaries incorporated in the company. As a result, JSC Noyabrskneftegaz got under the absolute control of Abramovich. His next financial acquisition was gain of Omsk oil refinery in the amount at 100 million dollars collected on accounts of the Swiss trading offshore company "Runicom", presided by Mr Abramovich. In this scam a son of Yeltsin, Leonid Dyachenko was involved, fraudulent transportation of oil went through his company. in 1998 "Runicom participated in attempt to sell "Purneftegaz”, affiliated with Rosneft.
In 2000 tandem "Abramovich-Berezovsky took part in the “Russian Aluminum" creation, which subsequently captured 70 percent of the market. The next object that appeared to be interesting to them - the national airline Aeroflot, in which Abramovich acquired 26% shares. The next major acquisition of Roman Abramovich - ORT, Russia's leading television channel. The seller was Berezovsky, the buyer - Abramovich. All that time Mr. Abramovich served as a faithful treasurer in the "family" by paying its members traveling to ski resorts and purchasing of houses abroad. Then-Prosecutor General of Russia Skuratov possessed materials of illegal financial transactions of companies controlled by Mr Abramovich. It was rumored that Abramovich had even offered to Tatyana Dyachenko to organize physical elimination of Skuratov. But there was no need to kill the prosecutor - he had resigned after a scandal (he was spotted in the bath with prostitutes). All attempts of the law enforcement agencies to check the financial activities of Abramovich always ended in failure.
Abramovich in the family - Satcor.ru, 22.12.2002
But after a few years Abramovich began to dispose of his assets. In 2005 he sold Sibneft (at its base the company "Gazprom Neft" was established later) for $ 13 billion. Prior to that, Sibneft twice attempted to "merge" with Yukos, Mikhail Khodorkovsky - in 1998 and 2003, but unsuccessfully. The last attempt failed at the last moment because of the arrest of Khodorkovsky. At the same time Abramovich sold 50% stake of Russian Aluminum to Oleg Deripaska and 26% of Aeroflot to the National Reserve Bank. It is believed that Abramovich got rid of the companies with the scandalous history of privatization, so that nothing resembled to a respectable businessman on criminal past. At the same time, Abramovich bought 41% of iron and steel company Evraz, and 44% "Eurocement". Billionaire also bought the American metallurgical company Oregon Steel Mills for 2, 3 billion, steel company IRSCO, and as a result become the largest pipe producer in North America
Abramovich - Review of Western intelligence services - APN, 29.06.1999; what is Abramovich rich with in Russia - "Gazeta, ru", 14.03.2007, nearing the end of the novel - "Version", 15.04.2008
After Vladimir Putin was elected president of Russia, Berezovsky and Abramovich's relationship broke up. Berezovsky departed to London. Abramovich, on the contrary, immediately declared he was loyal to the Kremlin. In 2000 he becomes the head of Chukotka, the poorest region in Russia, and following the presidential covenant "Business should give more to society” he spends $ 200 million of its own funds for Chukotka, and his overall investment is estimated at 1, 5 billion. In 2005 - he was approved for another term. In 2008, Abramovich resigned from his post at his own request. They say that Roman Abramovich was going to retire in 2006, but then President Putin refused to sign his resignation. Order of the resignation of Mr Abramovich was signed by the President Medvedev - it was kind of reward to oligarch for his contribution to successful performance of Russian select team at the European football championship (Abramovich provided a salary of $ 4 million per year to national team coach Gus Hiddink).
Abramovich feels quite calmly in regard to personal spending. He buys luxury yachts, houses, and football clubs of the British Premier League. Some believe Abramovich diverts attention from his business by this. Others believe that such investing of the profits increases the value of his companies and insures them for years ahead, as soon as linkages left from Yeltsin's time, lose their strength and value slowly under Putin. It is noteworthy that most of this capital Abramovich holds abroad.
Abramovich is happy in the shade - "The Financial Times", 26.03.2008; Abramovich was awarded the resignation for the Russian football success - "Our Version", 07.07.2008.
English courts in 2005 began to investigate dark deals of the Russian oligarch. the energy company Yugraneft, controlled by Shalva Chigirinsky registered a claim amounting to 2,5 billion dollars to the Royal Court in London for Abramovich and his company Millhouse Capital (it manages all the assets the oligarch). Abramovich was accused of fraudulent deprivation of 50% stake in "Yugraneft" in an oil field in Siberia. Tchigirinsky filed more than 50 actions in Russia; however none of them have been processed successfully. Investigators denied him twice to in a criminal case of fraud by Abramovich. But the claim in the Royal Court was not satisfied because the court considered that the oligarch was not a permanent resident in the UK, and all his business contacts remained in Russia, so all the proceedings could be possible only there. The court was remarkable not only with that. The judge studied deeply the private life of a billionaire, and for the first time published 134-page list of all movable and immovable property of Abramovich – starting from the flotilla of yachts, planes, mansions and castles around the world to Chelsea Football Club.
In 2005 Abramovich was at the center of investigation, which was led the French law enforcement authorities in the so-called "Berezovsky case”. French police questioned the honesty of transactions carried out by Abramovich when he purchased mansion “Chateau de la Kroe" in Antibes. It was suspected that the house was bought on "suspicious patterns", using fictitious companies. The newspaper Le Figaro wrote at the time that mutual assistance existed between the two billionaires. But in 2007 former partners refuted the myth that they still needed each other as business partners. Berezovsky filed a court action for Abramovich to get repayment of $ 5 billion pounds. It was a question of Sibneft, Rusal and ORT sale, which in Berezovsky’s opinion, he was forced to sell cheaply through the Kremlin threats, which Abramovich passed to him. In addition, Berezovsky declared in his lawsuit that Abramovich bought Chelsea in 2003 upon the orders of Putin. Advocates of Roman Abramovich considered Berezovsky's claim futile, because all the Berezovsky's accusations were based on oral interviews with Abramovich, which content was not documented. The decision in this case was never adjudicated.
French police became interested in Roman Abramovich - Izvestia, 01.06.2005; British court disclosed a list of Roman Abramovich's ownership - The Gardian, translation: "Kommersant", 05.11.2008; Abramovich's lawyers submitted to the court of London history of his transactions with Berezovsky - NEWSru.com . 05/06/2008; Berezovsky handed action to Abramovich, when he met him accidentally in court, - NEWSru.com, 07. 10.2007
In early 2009 the agricultural holding PRODO owned by Roman Abramovich began construction of biogas stations at the farms and meat processing plants for production of biogas from manure (volume of investments - 3 billion rubles).
Currently Abramovich tries not to glow in the press unnecessarily, except for reaffirming his loyalty to get help from the state. Close circle of Abramovich involves: Valentine Yumashev, Oleg Deripaska, Eugenie Shvidler (his best friend), Alisher Usmanov, Vladimir Lisin.
Sweet Abramovich - GQ, May 2009.