# Yuri Kovalchuk **Yuri Kovalchuk** is the largest shareholder of **Bank Rossiya** and a founding member of the [[Ozero Cooperative]]. The Treasury called him "personal banker" to senior Russian officials, including [[Vladimir Putin]], when it sanctioned him and the bank on March 20, 2014, in the first round after Crimea. Western reporting often calls him "Putin's banker." It also reports that he was among the most influential voices when Putin decided to invade Ukraine. ## Ozero Ozero is the lakeside dacha cooperative founded on November 10, 1996 near St. Petersburg. Its eight founders were Vladimir Smirnov (its head), Putin, Vladimir Yakunin, the brothers Andrei and Sergey Fursenko, Kovalchuk, Viktor Myachin and Nikolai Shamalov. Its members went on to run railways, ministries and banks. The [[Rotenberg Brothers]] were **not** among the founders. (Corrected 2026-10-06; this page used to say they were.) ## Media Kovalchuk's **National Media Group** holds controlling stakes in REN TV, Channel 5 and CTC Media, about 20% of Channel One, and the newspapers *Izvestia* and *Sport-Express*. Its co-owners are Bank Rossiya, Surgutneftegas, SOGAZ and Gazprom Media. (Beyond the Channel One stake, the holdings list is from one source.) In April 2025 it bought the media-monitoring firm Medialogia. ## The invasion When COVID arrived in March 2020, Kovalchuk quarantined and was tested so he could stay with Putin at his residences. That gave him rare access during the pandemic. Two independent accounts describe his role: - The *Wall Street Journal* (December 2022) reported that he argued the West was weak. - Vyorstka (via RFE/RL, April 2023) called him the "main supporter" of the invasion and said the decision was made in early March 2021. ## The family His brother **Mikhail Kovalchuk** directs the Kurchatov Institute, the center of Russian nuclear science (see [[Rosatom]]). His son **Boris Kovalchuk** became chairman of the Accounts Chamber, the state audit body, on May 14, 2024, after running the power company Inter RAO. Boris is under EU and UK sanctions. On July 21, 2026 Putin awarded Yuri the Order of Merit to the Fatherland, third class (one source). ## See Also - [[Ozero Cooperative]] · [[Rotenberg Brothers]] · [[Gennady Timchenko]] · [[Vladimir Putin]] · [[Mafia State]] - [[Russian Deprivatization]] · [[Russian Deprivatization Timeline]] · [[Rosatom]]