Putin’s friend Tymchenko asked not to consider the ego a supporter of the war

Businessmen Gennady Tymchenko’s connections with Russian President Vladimir Putin do not mean that Tymchenko “is an ally” of Putin in the war in Ukraine. This was stated by Tymchenko’s lawyer Stefan Bonifassi in the European Court of General Jurisdiction, where the businessman and his wife are challenging EU sanctions, Bloomberg reports.

The lawyer denies the EU officials’ assertions that Timchenko contributed to the Russian economy thanks to his connections in the Volga Group investment firm and Rossiya Bank. “Even taking into account that Tymchenko has known Mr. Putin for a long time, the statements that he is his confidant are something that we dispute, since such statements contain a kind of accusation,” Bonifassi said.

As reported by Sibir.Realii, Tymchenko’s side demands the annulment of EU sanctions against the entrepreneur and his wife, including the freezing of assets and a ban on movement. Tymchenko was included in the sanctions lists because of his participation in the management of the Rossiya bank, which in Europe was considered “the personal bank of high-ranking officials of the Russian Federation.” “We are often told that this is a bank for top Russian officials, but there is no evidence,” Bonifassi noted.

• In his first interview with the Russian Forbes in 2012, Tymchenko said that he had known Putin for many years and periodically met with him, but he asked that the question about whether he is Putin’s friend be forwarded to Putin himself.
• Gennady Timchenko, who is called “Putin’s treasurer” in the media, came under US sanctions in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea. The EU and Great Britain announced sanctions against him in 2022 after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
• Tymchenko has Finnish citizenship. The Finnish authorities recently announced after the inspection that they found no signs of violation of the law when it was provided.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin could be a beneficiary of the offshore company Mischositos Investment SA, which in 2011 earned $1.12 billion from the resale of shares in the Yamal LNG production plant, the Dossier Center reported. Putin’s friends Gennady Timchenko and Petr Kolbin participated in the resale transaction.
• In 2023, the Russian government allowed Novatek to buy a stake in Sakhalin Energy, the operator of the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project, for 94.8 billion rubles. We are talking about 27.5% of the project, previously owned by Shell, which left Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. According to Forbes, 23.49% of Novatek belongs to Gennady Timchenko.