# Ozero Cooperative The **Ozero Cooperative** is the dacha (country-house) cooperative that [[Vladimir Putin]] and seven associates founded on November 10, 1996 on the shore of Lake Komsomolskoye, on the Karelian Isthmus north of St. Petersburg. Its founding roster reads as an early map of the Putin-era elite. ## The founders Besides Putin, the founders were Vladimir Smirnov (the cooperative's head), [[Vladimir Yakunin]] (later head of Russian Railways, 2005–2015), Andrei and Sergey Fursenko, [[Yuri Kovalchuk]], Viktor Myachin and Nikolay Shamalov. By 2013 Kovalchuk's fortune was estimated at $1.4 billion and Shamalov's at $500 million. ## Continuity On October 15, 2024, Kirill Shamalov — Putin's former son-in-law (married to Katerina Tikhonova, 2013–2018) — was registered as the cooperative's chairman. ## What it is not Gennady Timchenko, often grouped with this circle, is not listed among the Ozero founders; see [[Gennady Timchenko]]. ## RWKB angle Ozero is the founding roster of Putin's crony network: dacha neighbors who went on to run railways, ministries and banks — the social origin of the [[Mafia State]]. ## See Also - [[Sergei Roldugin]] - [[Kleptocracy]]