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Vladimir Smirnov (businessman)

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Vladimir Alexeyevich Smirnov (in Russian: Владимир Алексеевич Смирнов, b. 1957 in Pskov) is a Russian scientist and businessman, former Director General of the Petersburg Fuel Company (1997–1998), former Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Petersburg Fuel Company (1999–2001). Between 2002–2007, he was the Director General of Tekhsnabexport (TENEX) which carries out export of goods and services produced by Russian nuclear enterprises. He is a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin.[1][2][3]

Education edit

He graduated in 1980 from the Leningrad Institute of Aviation Instrument Production, where he majored in electromechanical engineering. After graduating, Smirnov worked as an engineer and junior researcher at the Leningrad Institute of Aviation Instrument Production. Later he gained a PhD in Technical Sciences (1986) and in Economics (2000).[4]

Smirnov is also the author of ten inventions and 45 scientific papers. In 1988, he became the youngest Senior Researcher at the Leningrad Institute of Aviation Instrument Production. In 1988 he was awarded the State Science and Technology Prize for Young Researchers. The prize was donated to the Peace Foundation.

Early career edit

In 1990, he established one of Saint Petersburg's first joint ventures (with German partners), the real estate development company Inform-Future,[5] which built the city's first office centre for foreign companies.[citation needed]

In 1992, Smirnov travelled to Frankfurt, where he began St. Petersburg Immobilien und Beteiligungs AG or SPAG, a Germany real estate company. SPAG was active in the construction, sale and rental of commercial and residential properties.[6] Vladimir Putin, who was also in Frankfurt, joined SPAG as a member of an "advisory board".[1] In 1999, SPAG was suspected by German police of facilitating Saint Petersburg mobsters, Colombian drug lords, and transcontinental money laundering.[7][8] Kumarin-Barsukov, of the Tambov Russian mafia was a partner in Znamenskaya, a subsidiary of SPAG.[9][10] Vladimir Smirmov was the general director of Znamenskaya and Kumarin-Barsukov was his deputy.[10] Through his 200 shares or 20% control, Vladimir Smirmov was Putin's voting proxy in SPAG.[11][12][13] Jalol Khaidarov (Russian: Джалол Хайдаров) stated that the final destination of the funds was to the "Operator Trade Center" in Liechtenstein but also said that the Bank of New York was a participant.[11] In the early 2000s, the company's co-founder Rudolf Ritter was arrested in Liechtenstein for laundering cocaine cash for the Cali cartel.[9][14] Robert Walner was the chief prosecutor in Liechtenstein's capital Vaduz.[9][a]

Vladimir Smirnov resigned from all his directorships at SPAG and its subsidiaries, left Saint Petersburg for Moscow in 2001, and ceased to be involved in SPAG.[citation needed]

Not long after Vladimir Putin returned from his KGB service in Dresden, East Germany he had built a dacha in Solovyovka, located on the eastern shore of Lake Komsomolskoye on the Karelian Isthmus in Priozersky District of Leningrad Oblast, near St. Petersburg. The dacha had burned down in 1996. Putin had a new one built identical to the original and was joined by a group of seven friends, who built dachas beside his. Vladimir Smirnov was one of the members of the group which in the fall of 1996 formally registered their fraternity as co-operative society, calling it Ozero (Lake) and turning it into a gated community.[22]

In the late 1990s, Smirnov headed the Petersburg Fuel Company serving as Chief Executive Officer between 1997 and 1998 and the company's Chairman of the Board of Directors between 1999 and 2000. The company greatly benefited from a decree signed in 1996 by Putin, which gave the company a "virtual monopoly over retail gasoline sales" in St. Petersburg.[1]

At the suggestion of Putin, Smirnov joined the Household Affairs Directorate in the Kremlin in late 2000.[23][1]

Tenex edit

In a period of radical market reforms, between 2002 and 2007 Vladimir Smirnov was General Director of Tekhsnabexport (Tenex)[24]. Tenex represents 35-50% of the nuclear world market. During this period, Tenex also signed long-term contracts until 2020 on the system of guaranteed supplies of low-enriched uranium for almost all of the world's nuclear power plants.[25]

In 2003, Smirnov announced a milestone in the effort in reducing the threat of nuclear proliferation through the elimination of weapons-grade uranium and its transformation into electricity-producing fuel.[26] This was presented by Smirnov during a news conference in Washington D.C.[27] During the discussion between Tenex and Japanese power companies, the creation of reserve stocks in Japan as well as lowenriched uranium storage facilities were discussed. [28]

Smirnov supervised the "Megatons to Megawatts Program" between Russia and the United States, allowing Russia to supply the United States with low-enriched uranium obtained from highenriched uranium found to be in excess of Russian defense purposes.[29] This program was considered as one of the most successful disarmament programs in history.[30][31] The program enabled Russia to earn USD 3.5 billion since its inception in 1994.[32]

In 2005, Smirnov was appointed as an external advisor to the head of the Federal Atomic Agency, Rosatom.[33] At this time, he presided over the grand opening of the Tenex Subsidiary Office in Tokyo.[34][35] According to Smirnov, the cooperation between Japan and Russia is a milestone for the world's atomic energy future.[36]

Since 2003, JSC Techsnabexport (Tenex), has been the general sponsor of the annual Russian contest of scientific and educational projects “Power of the Future.” The contest, organized by the Nuclear Academy, aims to improve the efficiency of education and to upgrade the intellectual potential in the nuclear industry.

In addition, a sponsorship program for nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation, and environment protection activities of Russian and foreign social organizations was established at Tenex between 2002 and 2007, upon the initiative of Vladimir Smirnov. Tenex notably sponsored the Peace Concert which took place in Zug, Switzerland, on 13 October 2002, with the participation of the ensemble led by V. Spivakov. The event was attended by Nobel Peace Prize laureates, ex-President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev and Archbishop of Cape Town Desmond Tutu, distinguished European Community leaders and peace movement leaders from various countries.

Smirnov decided to leave Tenex in 2007 and to retire from all official functions.

He has not held any official functions since 2007.

Notes edit

  1. ^ According to Felipe Turover Chudínov, who was a senior intelligence officer with the foreign-intelligence directorate of the KGB, Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin secretly decreed in the early 1990s that Russia would become an international hub through which narcotics are trafficked including cocaine and heroin from South America and heroin from Central Asia and Southeast Asia.[15][16] Yuri Skuratov supported Turover's statements and began numerous investigations into corruption with high ranking Russian government officials.[17] Alexander Litvinenko provided a detailed narcotics trafficking diagram showing relationships between Russian government officials and Russian mafia and implicating Vladimir Putin and numerous others in obschak including narcotics trafficking money.[18][19][20] Following Operation Troika which targeted the Tambov Gang, Spanish Prosecutor José Grinda concurred and added that to avoid prosecution numerous indicted persons became Deputies in the Russian Duma, especially with Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party and gained parliamentary immunity from prosecution.[21]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d Hosenball, Mark (2001-09-02). "A Stain On Mr. Clean". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 2013-12-21. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
  2. ^ Meyer, Josh (April 26, 2022). "A port city, a steel cage, a palace: The steps that made Putin 'the richest man in the world'". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on 2024-02-25. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
  3. ^ Munro, Robin (2001-08-29). "Report: Blacklist Because Of Putin". The Moscow Times. Archived from the original on 2024-04-21. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
  4. ^ World Nuclear Archived 2012-03-09 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ "Inform Future official website". Archived from the original on 8 May 2003. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  6. ^ Spag St Petersburg Immobilien Und Beteiligungen AG
  7. ^ Иванидзе, Владимир (Ivanidze, Vladimir) (August 2000). "Неразборчивые связи северной столицы" [The indecipherable connections of the northern capital]. «Совершенно секретно» (Sovsekretno) (in Russian). Archived from the original on 4 October 2007. Retrieved 23 July 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Belton, Catherine (19 May 2003). "Putin's Name Surfaces in German Probe". The Moscow Times. Archived from the original on 25 May 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  9. ^ a b c Belton, Catherine (7 October 2003). "New Book Poses Question of Putin's Links with Underworld". The St. Petersburg Times. St. Petersburg, Russia. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  10. ^ a b Иванидзе, Владимир (Ivanidze, Vladimir); Кириленко, Анастасия (Kirilenko, Anastasia) (7 September 2012). "Кооператив "Озеро" как кузница кадров" [Cooperative "Lake" as a forge of personnel]. Радио Свобода (Radio Svoboda) (in Russian). Archived from the original on 5 October 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ a b Кириленко, Анастасия (Kirilenko, Anastasia) (1 October 2015). "Мафия на госзаказе - 2. Что связывает Кремль с измайловской группировкой" [Mafia on state order - 2. What connects the Kremlin with the Izmailovo group]. The Insider. Archived from the original on 4 October 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ Belton, Catherine (23 June 2020). Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0374238711. p. 99, see note 65.
  13. ^ Muller, Sarah-Christian; Dawisha, Karen (2014). "Appendices of Stasi Documents from Validmir Putin, Operation Luch and Matthias Warnig: The Secret KGB-Stasi Relationship" (PDF). Miami University. pp. 92–106. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 October 2014. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  14. ^ Roth, Jürgen (1 January 2004). Die Gangster aus dem Osten [Gangsters in the East] (in German). Europa Verlag. ISBN 978-3203815268.
  15. ^ Лурье, Олег (Lurie, Oleg) [in Russian] (27 December 1999). "Список Туровера" [Turover List]. Novaya Gazeta (in Russian). Archived from the original on 17 January 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) Alt URL Archived 2021-01-28 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ Lurye, Oleg (27 December 1999). "Turover List". Novaya Gazeta. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2021 – via Russialist.org.
  17. ^ Yablokova, Oksana (29 December 1999). "Skuratov: 'Turover List' Is Real". The Moscow Times. Archived from the original on 23 February 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  18. ^ Кириленко, Анастасия (Kirilenko, Anastasia) (21 January 2016). "Путин и мафия. За что убили Александра Литвиненко" [Putin and the mafia. Why Alexander Litvinenko was killed]. The Insider (in Russian). Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  19. ^ Кириленко, Анастасия (Kirilenko, Anastasia) (10 September 2018). "Токсичная информация. О чем Литвиненко рассказал бы испанскому правосудию, если бы не был отравлен" [Toxic information. What Litvinenko would have told Spanish justice if he had not been poisoned]. The Insider (in Russian). Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  20. ^ Litvinenko, Alexander Схема связей преступного мира, нарисованная Литвиненко (Litvinenko's diagram of the connections of the underworld) Archived from the original on 23 January 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  21. ^ José Grinda González. "REGULACIÓN NACIONAL E INTERNACIONAL DEL CRIMEN ORGANIZADO. EXPERIENCIA DE LA FISCALÍA ANTICORRUPCIÓN" (PDF). Fiscales de la Fiscalía contra la Corrupción y la Criminalidad Organizada (in Spanish). p. 8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 April 2017. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  22. ^ How the 1980s Explains Vladimir Putin. The Ozero group. Archived 2019-08-02 at the Wayback Machine By Fiona Hill & Clifford G. Gaddy, The Atlantic, February 14, 2013
  23. ^ Belton, Catherine (2003-05-19). "Putin's Name Surfaces in German Probe". The Moscow Times. Archived from the original on 2024-04-21. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
  24. ^ "Tenex" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-05-30. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  25. ^ "Sixth US enrichment contract for Tenex". Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  26. ^ "Performance Summary, Resources Invested, and Illustrative Example of Significant Achievement". Archived from the original on 2021-10-24. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  27. ^ "Smirnov during a news conference in Washington D.C" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-04-14. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  28. ^ "Japan-Russia Bilateral Nuclear Cooperation Agreement". Archived from the original on 2022-11-27. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  29. ^ "Megatons to Megawatts". Archived from the original on 2024-02-14. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  30. ^ "In support of the Megatons to Megawatts program - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists". Archived from the original on 2024-04-21. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  31. ^ "Megatons to Megawatts: An Explainer | Good Energy Collective". Archived from the original on 2024-04-25. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  32. ^ "www.nti.org". Archived from the original on 2011-03-02. Retrieved 2011-05-10.
  33. ^ "Tenex". Archived from the original on 2010-05-05. Retrieved 2011-05-03.
  34. ^ [1][permanent dead link]
  35. ^ "Grand Opening of the TENEX Subsidiary Office in Tokyo". Archived from the original on 19 May 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  36. ^ "Tenex discussing long-term uranium contracts with Japanese power firms". Archived from the original on 26 December 2015. Retrieved 9 December 2016.

External links edit

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