# Gennady Timchenko **Gennady Timchenko** is a Russian commodities billionaire and longtime Putin associate who co-founded the oil trader Gunvor and holds stakes in the gas producer Novatek and petrochemical firm Sibur through his Volga Group. ## Gunvor and the 2014 sanctions Timchenko co-founded Gunvor with Torbjörn Törnqvist in 1997. He sold his Gunvor stake on March 19, 2014 — one day before the U.S. added him to the SDN sanctions list on March 20, 2014, after the [[Annexation of Crimea]]. ## 2022 The U.K. sanctioned him on February 22, 2022 and the EU on February 28; his yacht *Lena* was seized on March 4, 2022. Forbes estimated his fortune at $23.1 billion in 2022. He holds Russian, Finnish and Armenian citizenship. ## Note Timchenko is often grouped with Putin's dacha-cooperative circle, but he is not listed among the [[Ozero Cooperative]] founders. ## RWKB angle Timchenko's stake sale one day before his U.S. designation is a vivid example of Kremlin associates moving ahead of Western sanctions. ## See Also - [[Russian Oligarchy]] - [[Ozero Cooperative]]