Putin's scientific adviser became a dollar billionaire - Forbes

The rector of the St. Petersburg Mining University, Vladimir Litvinenko, who became famous as the person under whose leadership the future Russian President Vladimir Putin defended his Ph.D. thesis in the late 1990s, has become a billionaire, Forbes writes , citing a new rating.

Litvinenko took 2035th place in the list of the world's richest people according to Forbes with a fortune of $1.5 billion due to his stake in Phosagro, one of the world's largest fertilizer producers. Litvinenko owns 20.98% of the company's shares. The rector of St. Petersburg State University was included in the global list of the magazine for the first time.

The main beneficiaries of Phosagro are Andrey Guryev and his relatives. They took 451st place in the global Forbes list with a fortune of $6 billion. Another 4.5% of Phosagro shares belong to private investor Igor Antoshin.

Phosagro shares have risen in price by 70% over the past year, including due to good results in 2020 - the company’s revenue increased by 2.3%, to 253.9 billion rubles. Investor interest is also fueled by the anticipation of a dividend decision scheduled for April 14, Forbes notes.

How Vladimir Litvinenko received a stake in Phosagro is not fully known. Forbes wrote that he could have participated in the voucher privatization of the company's Apatit JSC, and Vedomosti's sources said in 2017 that he could have received a stake for informal assistance to the company during the YUKOS case.

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