Proxy billionaire: Ties with some of Putin’s oldest allies propel mystery businessman onto Russia’s Forbes list

Ilya Dimov was a man without a public biography — until now. The owner of one of Gazprom's largest contractors and a figure listed among Forbes Magazine’s rankings of Russia’s top earnershad long remained out of the public eye. But an investigation by The Insider has revealed that Dimov, the formal owner of Stroiproektservice, is closely connected to oligarch and long-time Putin confidante Gennady Timchenko, and he also enjoys close ties with the family of Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller. Remarkably, Stroiproektservice remains untouched by sanctions, playing a key role in major Gazprom international projects to this day.

• 1.A lawyer for Putin’s “wallets”
• 2.A friend to the Gazprom CEO’s stepdaughter
• 3.Staying away from sanctions

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A lawyer for Putin’s “wallets”

“Nothing is known about Dimov apart from his tax identification number,” Forbes Russia described the owner of Stroiproektservice a few months ago while naming him as one of the country’s top taxpayers. Despite Dimov’s low profile, his personal income exceeded 25 billion rubles in 2023 (close to $277.8 million) — placing him second only to Novatek owner Leonid Mikhelson, whose reported net worth of $27.4 billion made him Russia’s second-richest individual and the 66th globally.

Dimov’s annual earnings outstrip those of long-established oligarchs like oil tycoon Vagit Alekperov and mining magnate Iskandar Makhmudov. He also ranks in Forbes' list of top 50 Russians with the highest dividend earnings.

Dimov ranked second in Russia in terms of personal income in 2023 — right behind Leonid Mikhelson, the owner of gas giant Novatek.

But despite his astronomical income, not even journalists had any idea what the major Gazprom contractor looked like — no images of him were available in the public domain. However, The Insider can finally fill this gap by publishing a photo of the 43-year-old, who hails from Syktyvkar in Russia’s northwestern Komi Republic.

Ilya Dimov

Dimov’s main source of income is Stroiproektservice (ООО «Стройпроектсервис»), a key contractor for Gazprom. According to the company’s website, it is a “unified logistics operator providing comprehensive logistical services for the construction and reconstruction of major gas pipelines under all Gazprom Invest LLC projects.” The company has been involved in some of Gazprom’s highest-profile international projects, including Power of Siberia, Nord Stream 2, the Yamal-Europe pipeline, and TurkStream. Stroiproektservice also manages cargo transportation for Gazprom, as well as security, storage, and equipment accounting.

Aside from his main business, Dimov owns Lakhta.spb, a supply management platform used by Gazprom contractors. His companies’ total revenues last year was close to 87 billion rubles (approximately $893 million).

Dimov founded Stroiproektservice in late 2014 — just six months after the U.S. imposed sanctions on leading Russian billionaires, including Putin’s better-known proxies Yuri Kovalchuk and Gennady Timchenko. Both oligarchs act as “wallets” for Vladimir Putin — they are trusted individuals who mask ownership of assets and accounts that, in fact, are controlled by the Russian president. The Insider discovered that, before starting his own business, Dimov had worked for Timchenko and Kovalchuk.

Data obtained by The Insider indicates that Dimov worked as a lawyer at Sogaz, a major Russian insurance firm founded by Gazprom, at a time when Kovalchuk and Timchenko were among the company’s major shareholders. After leaving Sogaz and before taking charge of Stroiproektservice, Dimov made money through his own law firm, Duvernois Lex. However, he still maintained his ties with Timchenko’s network. For example, Dimov’s second-in-command at Stroiproektservice, Sergey Panfilov, who also manages several of his other companies, previously worked for Timchenko as well.

A friend to the Gazprom CEO’s stepdaughter

Until 2023, Dimov owned Northern Star LLC (ООО «Северная звезда»), a restaurant business, before it was taken over by Svetlana Kuznetsova — the stepdaughter of Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller. This is not their only connection.

Source: miller.navalny.com

Dimov and Kuznetsova are neighbors and close friends. According to information obtained by The Insider, Dimov owns an apartment in the elite Imperial Yacht Club residential complex in St. Petersburg, where Kuznetsova lives with her husband, Alexander Kuznetsov — the CEO of Gazprom Komplektatsiya (ООО «Газпром комплектация»), another Gazprom subsidiary. Kuznetsov was described as Gazprom’s “chief procurement officer” by Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation in 2022.

The Imperial Yacht Club residential complex in St. Petersburg.

The Insider found that Dimov even vacations abroad with the Miller family — he traveled with the Kuznetsovs to Dubai in January 2023. In July 2022, he vacationed with Alexander Kuznetsov in Turkey. On Dec. 28, 2021, the group flew together to Chambéry, France, returning to Russia from Grenoble on Jan. 8, 2022.

The Insider found that Dimov even vacations abroad with Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller’s family.

The Insider estimates that over the past 10 years, Dimov has gone on at least 27 trips abroad with the Kuznetsovs, visiting destinations including Mexico, Montenegro, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Cuba, and the Maldives.

They often flew together on Gazprom-owned private jets. In August 2018, they returned from Sardinia on a plane bearing tail number RA-09607. On board, they were accompanied by Marina Yentaltseva, Miller’s wife — a longtime family friend and former secretary to Vladimir Putin.

Staying away from sanctions

While Dimov’s former employer, Gennady Timchenko, is under almost every possible sanction, the Stroiproektservice founder has managed to avoid such designations entirely, allowing him to continue traveling freely in Europe — much like members of Alexey Miller’s family, who have also escaped EU sanctions.

Before Dimov became involved in the company, Stroiproektservice did not have any contracts with Gazprom. Russian government procurement records show that the firm previously provided reindeer feed in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District and installed playgrounds and sports facilities. However, after Dimov took over, the company began receiving billions from Gazprom. In its first year under his leadership, revenue grew 20-fold. The absence of sanctions allowed Stroiproektservice to continue participating in international projects in Europe — including Nord Stream 2 — right up until the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in Feb. 2022.

The fact that a close friend of Alexey Miller’s family holds exclusive access to Gazprom contracts presents a potential corruption risk. This issue is compounded by the growing opacity of Russian government procurement data in recent years — and by the possibility that Dimov may be acting as Stroiproektservice’s nominal owner on behalf of one of Vladimir Putin’s long-time friends.