Biography:
Yuri Kushnerov was born in 1954.
Until 2007 he was co-owner and CFO of Yuzhkuzbassugol Coal Company. After a series of accidents at the mines, the company was sold to Evrazholding. The deal was closed on June 8, 2007. The company's management received about $ 500 million.
In 2007 Kushnerov and his partner set up NeftechimService Management Company for constructing Yaya refinery in Kemerovo region. Construction works began in September 2008.
According to Finance magazine, in 2011 Kushnerov ranked 303rd of the 500 richest Russians, his fortune amounting to 9.4 billion rubles.
He is married and has three daughters.
Source: Finance
Dossier:
On March 19, 2007 Ulyanovskaya mine in Novokuznetsk witnessed a disaster. Lava collapsed in the mine owned by Yuzhkuzbassugol, leading to methane building up in the shaft and causing the subsequent explosion. As of March 20, the accident took lives of 102 people, including 20 executives of the mine. The accident had the largest death toll in the history of Russian coal industry.
Source: Vedomosti, 20 March 2007
On May 24, 2007 a total of 38 miners perished as a result of a methane explosion at the mine Yubileynaya in Novokuznetsk. After two consecutive blasts at Ulyanovskaya mine, Aman Tuleyev, governor of Kemerovo region, commented on yet another accident at sites owned by Yuzhkuzbassugol coal-mining company. He made a request to the company and explained it that Eurasia, which made its profits on the production of metal and was able to spend more on maintaining security, had no objective to make a profit on the mine itself. "If an entrepreneur can not meet the requirements, he waives his assets in favour of other, more responsible owners", said Tuleyev. He demanded to change Yuzhkuzbassugol owner and management, otherwise promising to push for revoking the company’s license.
Source: Vedomosti, 25 May 2007
In 2007 Kushnerov and his partners Aleksander Govor and Georgy Lavrik sold their shares in Yuzhkuzbassugol to Evrazholding.
Tuleyev let the former Yuzhkuzbassugol owners gain money. The three received a total of 871 million dollars. Three months after the deal Kushner and Govor brought a refinery construction project to Tuleyev for approval. According to Kushnerov, Tuleyev approved the project.
Source: Forbes, 18 November 2010
In summer 2011 NeftechimService board chairman Yuri Kushnerov complained to Tuleyev about tough obligations the company had to undertake to gain access to the Omsk - Irkutsk oil pipe-line. To access the oil pipe-line NeftechimService was burdened with constructing pumping stations for Transneft in another region of Russia. "It is hard to understand why the government has placed such a heavy burden, about 4 billion rubles, on a not yet finished plant. This may slow down financing of the second construction phase for us. And without it, our plant will not become a full-fledged refinery, because the depth of oil refining in the first phase is only 60% ", said Kushnerov. In response, Aman Tuleyev called this situation racketeering and promised to report this to Vladimir Putin. In addition, he instructed his deputy to prevent all attempts of inspectors to arbitrarily stop the work at the construction site.
Source: Gazeta Kemerovo, 06 June 2011