Kirill Dmitriev

Kirill Alexandrovich Dmitriev (Russian: Кирилл Александрович Дмитриев born 12 April 1975 in Kyiv)[1] is the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), a $10 billion sovereign wealth fund created by the Russian government to co-invest in the Russian economy alongside the sovereign wealth funds of other countries.[2] His wife Natalia Popova, a deputy director of the NGO Innopraktika Foundation, works for and is a very close friend of Putin's younger daughter Katerina Tikhonova.[3]

Kirill A. Dmitriev
2018
Born (1975-04-12) 12 April 1975
Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
NationalityRussian
EducationB.A. in Economics, Stanford
MBA, Harvard
Alma materStanford University, Harvard Business School
OccupationCEO
EmployerRussian Direct Investment Fund

Early life

Kirill Dmitriev was born in 1975 in Kyiv, Ukraine. When Dmitriev was 14, he was sent to live with friends of his parents in California, where the host family and Dmitriev convinced administrators at Foothill College to enroll the precocious teenager.[4] In two years, he transferred to Stanford University, from which he holds a BA in economics with high honors. He continued his education at Harvard Business School, where he completed the MBA program, laurelled as a Baker scholar.[1]

Career

Dmitriev worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs in New York and a consultant at McKinsey & Company in Los Angeles, Moscow, and Prague,[5] before returning to Russia in 2000. He was an associate at private equity fund Delta Private Equity Partners from 2002 to 2007, while also working for The U.S. Russia Investment Fund.[6] He served as the President of Icon Private Equity from 2007 to 2010.[7]

During his career, Dmitriev worked on the sale of DeltaBank to General Electric,[8] DeltaCredit Bank to Société Générale,[9] CTC Media shares to Fidelity Investments, National Cable Networks to Basic Element, CompuLink to three investment funds, TV3 to Prof-Media, and NTC to Bank Rossiya.

Russian Direct Investment Fund

In 2011 he was appointed as CEO of a newly created Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), a sovereign wealth fund to make equity co-investments in Russia companies. His mission has been described as "to change the face of Russian capitalism" and make the Russian economy less dependent on the petroleum industry by "overcoming western funds’ reluctance to invest in a country many viewed as corrupt, prone to state meddling and plagued by a law-of-the-jungle legal system".[1]

Under his leadership, RDIF has successfully invested with foreign partners in more than 70 projects totaling more than 1.4 trillion rubles and covering 95% of the regions of the Russian Federation. RDIF has established joint strategic partnerships with leading international co-investors from more than 15 countries including Saudi Arabia, UAE, China, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Italy, France.[2] Foreign partners have included BlackRock, One Equity Partners, Goldman Sachs, and Deutsche Bank,[1] Baring Vostok, UFG, Titan International and others.

Fighting COVID-19

In 2020 Kirill Dmitriev focused RDIF on combatting the novel coronavirus infection through investing in most promising solutions in testing, drugs, vaccines:

  1. In March, 2020 RDIF invested in the production of unique Russian-Japanese testing system to detect COVID-19 within 30 mins[10] (produced under EMG brand). More than 13 million testing kits were sold by RDIF and its partners abroad.[11] The system is being used in all major airports of Moscow: Sheremetyevo,[12] Domodedovo[13] and Vnukovo.[14]
  2. In March, 2020 RDIF and Russian pharmaceutical company ChemRar Group agreed to create a JV aimed at the production of Favipiravir-based drug Avifavir (generic version of the Japanese drug Avigan, which was proven to be effective by the Phase 3 clinical trials of Fujifilm Toyama Chemical 5 months after RDIF and ChemRar registered Avifavir in Russia.[15] Avifavir was the first anti-COVID-19 drug officially registered in Russia.[16] It has been exported to more than 15 countries worldwide.[17]
  3. RDIF invested in the production in Russia and abroad of the Sputnik V vaccine, which became the first registered anti-COVID-19 vaccine in the world.[18] The vaccine is based on the proven and safe platform of human adenoviral vectors.[19]

Dmitriev has been critical of the British COVID-19 vaccine research efforts, repeatedly referring to the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine as the "monkey vaccine", as the studies involved a modified version of the virus that infected chimpanzees. Dmitriev stopped this after The Times accused him of acting as part of a co-ordinated disinformation campaign against the British research efforts.[20]

Other activities

The World Economic Forum selected Dmitriev to be a Young Global Leader, and he was elected as a Vice President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP).[21][22] In 2011 he was the only Russian national to be named one of 100 most influential private equity professionals of the decade by Private Equity International magazine.[7]

Kirill Dmitriev was Chairman of the B20s Investments and Infrastructure Taskforce during the year of the Russian presidency in G20. In November 2012 he was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Investment Council under the Chairman of the State Duma. Serves as the Russian representative in the APEC Business Advisory Council[23] and in the BRICS Business Council.[24]

He serves on the Board of Directors of Rostelecom, MDMG, Gazprombank, the Russian Railways, Transneft, Rosseti, Skolkovo Foundation, and the supervisory board of ALROSA. He is also on the boards of trustees of the Mariinsky Theatre, Lomonosov Moscow State University and National History Fund. He was Chairman of the Russian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association from 2005 to 2006.[25]

In January 2017, Dmitriev met with Erik Prince, the founder of the private military company Blackwater, in the Seychelles.[26] The meeting was convened by the UAE. Prince was understood by the other participants to represent the presidential transition team of Donald Trump, while Dmitriev was understood to represent the Russian government.[27]

In February 2019, Kirill Dmitriev was one of the first Russian executives and businessmen to personally speak in defence of the detained founder and head of the Baring Vostok Capital Partners Michael Calvey and other detained employees of the investment fund.[28] Dmitriev appealed to Moscow City Court, Moscow's Basmanny district court, and the Russian Investigative Committee, requesting to put detained Michael Calvey and other Baring Vostok employees to house arrest.[29] Later on a court in Moscow released Calvey from pretrial detention and put him to house arrest.[30]

Publications

In November 2008, Dmitriev published an essay entitled, "Crisis: five rules for survival", in the leading Russian business daily Vedomosti, the sister paper of the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal, in which he warned that the financial crisis of 2007–08 crisis would be prolonged.[31]

Awards

By the decree of the President of the Russian Federation, Mr. Dmitriev has been awarded the Order of Alexander Nevsky 12 June 2017 for his valuable contribution to international investment projects and the socio-economic development of Russia.[32]

By the decree of the President of the Russian Federation, Mr. Dmitriev has been awarded the Order of Honour 16 April 2020 for his valuable contribution to international investment projects and the socio-economic development of Russia.[33]

By the decree of the President of France, Mr. Dmitriev has been awarded the title Chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honour 19 November 2018 for his great contribution to strengthening cooperation between Russia and France.[34]

By the order of the King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Mr. Dmitriev has been awarded the King Abdulaziz Second-Class Order of Merit 5 October 2019 for his contribution to strengthening cooperation between the Russian Federation and Saudi Arabia.[35]

By the decree of the President of Italy, Mr. Dmitriev was awarded the title of the Commander of the Order of the Star of Italy 14 May 2020 for his special achievements in the development of friendly relations and cooperation between Italy and Russia.[36]

Personal life

Dmitriev is married to Natalia Valerievna Popova (Russian: Наталья Валерьевна Попова).[3][37] Popova is a deputy on the board of the NGO Innopraktika Foundation (Russian: «Иннопрактика»).[38] Her close friend, Katerina Tikhonova, is the director of the Innopraktika Fund which was created “for an effective and flexible solution to the problems of the country's innovative development” (Russian: «для эффективного и гибкого решения задач инновационного развития страны»).[3][38]

The couples Shamalov-Tikhonova and Dmitriev-Popova were very close and went on holiday trips together before the divorce of Shamalov and Tikhnova which was announced in early 2018.[3]

References
  1. Anne-Sylvaine Chassany; Henny Sender (21 September 2014). "Russia's sovereign fund head struggles to stay above politics". Financial Times.
  2. Michelle Caruso-Cabrera (11 December 2013). "The $10 billion man out to change Russia's image". CNBC.
  3. Анин, Роман (Anin, Roman); Мароховская, Алеся (Marokhovskaya, Alesya); Долинина, Ирина (Dolinina, Irina); Великовский, Дмитрий (Velikovsky, Dmitry); Савина, Соня (Savina, Sonya); Шмагун, Олеся (Shmagun, Olesya); Шлейнов, Роман (Shleinov, Roman); Дмитриев, Денис (Dmitriev, Denis) (7 December 2020). "Кирилл и Катя: любовь, разлука, офшоры и неограниченный ресурс. История самой тайной пары России: Журналисты «Важных историй» изучили переписку зятя и дочери Владимира Путина и узнали, как члены семьи президента зарабатывали сотни миллионов долларов из воздуха, тратили состояние на роскошный быт за границей и использовали свои связи с высшим руководством России" [Kirill and Katya: love, separation, offshore and unlimited resources. The history of Russia's most secret couple: Journalists of Vostochnye Stories studied the correspondence between the son-in-law and daughter of Vladimir Putin and learned how members of the president's family earned hundreds of millions of dollars out of thin air, spent a fortune on luxurious living abroad and used their connections with the top leadership of Russia]. «Важные истории» (ISTORIES) (in Russian). Archived from the original on 7 December 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  4. https://odintsovo.info/news/?id=72170
  5. Cloherty, Patricia (2006). U.S. policy towards Russia: Hearing before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, One Hundred Ninth Congress, first session, June 21, 2005. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 5. ISBN 0160756642.
  6. "U.S. Policy Towards Russia". U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. 21 June 2005. pp. 3–12. Retrieved 27 October 2016. One of my partners, Kirill Dmitriev, from Ukraine, was honors graduate of Stanford University, Baker Scholar at Harvard. He worked for Goldman Sachs, in investment banking, and for McKinsey & Company in Los Angeles, Moscow and Prague. He has been with us for 4 years, and he is a valued partner.
  7. России есть что демонстрировать. RBC Information Systems (in Russian). 15 March 2012. Archived from the original on 20 March 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  8. Roberts, Dan; Ostrovsky, Arkady (12 August 2004), "GE unit in deal to buy Russian bank", Financial Times
  9. "Societe Generale Will Buy Russian Lender", The Wall Street Journal, pp. M4, 15 August 2005
  10. "Saudi, UAE labs and clinics lead bidding for express COVID-19 test". Arab News. 16 March 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  11. Chaudhury, Dipanjan Roy. "Russian sovereign wealth fund in touch with India to share advanced practices on Covid vaccine: CEO". The Economic Times. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  12. Airport, Sheremetyevo International. "RDIF and Sheremetyevo International Airport launch COVID-19 testing for passengers with EMG technology". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  13. Reuters Staff (5 August 2020). "Moscow expands COVID-19 express tests to major airports". Reuters (in French). Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  14. "RDIF and Vnukovo International Airport agree to launch express testing of passengers for coronavirus with the EMG system". www.vnukovo.ru. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  15. Reuters Staff (23 September 2020). "Fujifilm's Avigan shown to be effective in Japanese Phase-3 trial for COVID-19". Reuters. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  16. GMPnewsNet (30 May 2020). "Russian Ministry of Health Approves the First COVID-19 Drug Avifavir". GMP news. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  17. Fund (RDIF), Russian Direct Investment. "RDIF and ChemRar to supply Avifavir to 17 countries". www.prnewswire.co.uk. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  18. "Russia becomes first country to register a coronavirus vaccine". euronews. 11 August 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  19. "Sputnik V - the first registered vaccine against COVID-19. Official website vaccine against coronavirus Sputnik V." www.sputnikvaccine.com. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  20. Whipple, Tom; Rana, Manveen (17 October 2020). "Russian Kirill Dmitriev drops coronavirus 'monkey vaccine' jibe". The Times. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  21. "List of Active Young Global Leaders". World Economic Forum. 26 January 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 March 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  22. Kreutzer, Laura (17 March 2009), "PE's Young Turks Rub Elbows With Tiger Woods", Wall Street Journal (Private Equity Blog ed.)
  23. "ABAC Members | APEC Business Advisory Council". www2.abaconline.org. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  24. "Members of Business Council: Russia – BRICS Information Sharing & Exchanging Platform". Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  25. "Kirill Dmitriev". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  26. Horwitz, Sari; Barrett, Devlin (7 March 2018). "Mueller gathers evidence that 2017 Seychelles meeting was effort to establish back channel to Kremlin". The Washington Post. Prince told lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee that he did not plan to meet Dmitriev in the Seychelles but that once he was there discussing possible business deals with UAE officials, they unexpectedly suggested that he visit the hotel bar and meet Dmitriev.
  27. Mazzetti, Mark; Kirkpatrick, David D.; Goldman, Adam (6 March 2018). "Adviser to Emirates With Ties to Trump Aides Is Cooperating With Special Counsel". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  28. Matthew Chance, Olga Pavlova and Mary Ilyushina. "Prominent US investor detained in Russia". CNN. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  29. "Russian wealth fund calls for detained U.S. investor to be freed..." Reuters. 21 February 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  30. Kramer, Andrew E. (11 April 2019). "Russian Court Orders Release of Michael Calvey, American Businessman". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  31. Dmitriev, Kirill (27 November 2008), "Crisis: five rules for survival", Vedomosti
  32. Указ Президента Российской Федерации от 12 июня 2017 года № 266 «О награждении государственными наградами Российской Федерации»
  33. Указ Президента Российской Федерации от 16.04.2020 № 271 «О награждении государственными наградами Российской Федерации»
  34. "Cérémonie de remise de décoration à Kirill Dmitriev, Président du FRID (19 novembre 2018)". La France en Russie (in French). Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  35. "HRH Crown Prince Decorates RDIF CEO With King Abdulaziz Second Class Scarf The official Saudi Press Agency". www.spa.gov.sa. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  36. "L'AD della RDIF Kirill Dmitriev è stato insignito della Stella d'Italia". ambmosca.esteri.it. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  37. "Иннопрактика Правление Фонда" [Innopraktika Foundation Board] (PDF). «Иннопрактика» website (in Russian). 2013. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 January 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  38. "Расследование РБК: кто стоит за расширением МГУ: Кто руководит проектом создания технологической долины МГУ, какие за этим коммерческие интересы и почему масштабная стройка привлекла крупнейший российский бизнес" [RBC investigation: who is behind the expansion of Moscow State University: Who is in charge of the project to create the technological valley of Moscow State University, what are the commercial interests behind this, and why the large-scale construction attracted the largest Russian business]. РБК (RBC) (in Russian). 28 January 2018. Archived from the original on 25 October 2015. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
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