The richest people in the world are a special caste of the planet’s population that lives some distance from the rest of the people. Russian billionaires, whose wealth, according to experts, reaches tremendous values, are no exception in this matter, thanks to which the rich in Russia are included in the elite club of world business in terms of their income. In principle, this fact is not surprising, since the Russian Federation is famous for its natural wealth and the high level of intellectual development of specialists in various industrial and other fields.
This article will discuss one of the representatives of the Russian establishment, whose name is Victor Rashnikov. It’s worthwhile to take a closer look at his person, because it was largely thanks to this person that Russian metallurgy survived the 1998 default, the 2008 crisis and the current sanctions by the European Union and the United States of America with minimal losses. Of course, people like Viktor Filippovich are always in the spotlight and do not always have a crystal-clear reputation, but we will only touch on the main milestones of his biography, leaving various speculations and rumors to the mercy of other people.
Brief biographical excursion
The future modern billionaire was born on October 13, 1948 in the city of Magnitogorsk. In 1974, he defended his engineering diploma (specialty - "metal forming"). The native university for Rashnikov was the Magnitogorsk Mining and Metallurgical Institute. In 1994, Victor became the owner of a second higher education. His specialty was "organization of production management."
In 1996, Viktor Filippovich was awarded the title of Candidate of Sciences for a scientific report on the topic "Improving the end-to-end technology for the production of rolled steel from structural steels to improve product quality." The businessman also became a doctor of technical sciences, defending a dissertation, which was devoted to the effective improvement of the steel-rolled-metal-product system to obtain a rolling profile with a high degree of competitiveness.
Production activities
Rashnikov began his glorious career in 1967, when he came to the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works as an ordinary repairman. His first workplace was the workshop for the repair of metallurgical equipment No. 2.
In 1974, Viktor Filippovich was the operator of sheet rolling shop No. 5. Subsequently, he also worked as the head of the brigade for the delivery of hot metal in the crimping workshop, as a master of adjustment, led the shift of rolling workshop No. 9.
In 1970-83, Rashnikov was the head of workshop No. 9. And from 1983 to 1985, he worked as deputy head of the production department of the whole plant. In 1985, Victor was for some time the head of the section rolling shop.
Viktor Filippovich stayed with Rashnikov as the head of the production department from 1985 to 1986, after which he spent four years as deputy chief engineer of the plant, managing production and supply of products.
Rashnikov became the first deputy general director of the metallurgical plant in 1990, and from 1991 to 1992 he worked as chief engineer.
OJSC MMK Viktor Filippovich headed in 1997 and was the first person in the company until 2005. By the way, he got to this post thanks to the recommendations of the Prime Leasing company.
The billionaire was also a member of the board of directors of OJSC Central Company FPG Magnitogorsk Steel and several banks.
Since 2006, he has been the head of MMK Management Company LLC.
It is also worth noting that already in 1999 Rashnikov also controlled the Russian Metallurgical Company, Yuzhuralavtoban, Russian Bread and several other enterprises, which valued a total of about one and a half billion dollars.
Effective Crisis Manager
An important point: in 1998, Viktor Rashnikov, being the head of the MMK, agreed with the Germans to get a sufficiently large loan, but its obtaining was very complicated due to the August default of the Russian economy. But in fairness it’s worth saying that it was Rashnikov who helped stop the decline in production, and by 2002 the volume of output was increased by 65%.
Political life
In 1994, Viktor Filippovich Rashnikov was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of his native Chelyabinsk region. Over time, he was successfully re-elected there more than once.
At the end of 1998, it became one of the key figures in the Fatherland Party, which was then headed by Evgeny Primakov and Yuri Luzhkov.
In 2000, Viktor Filippovich was Putin's confidant during the election campaign for the presidency of the Russian Federation.
In 2003, Rashnikov was elected to the State Duma, however, for unclear reasons, refused his mandate. He also took part in the parliamentary race of 2007, at which he was the second on the list of United Russia members in the Chelyabinsk region. He worked in the committee on industry, transport, fuel, energy and communications.
Rashnikov took the post of president of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of the Chelyabinsk Region in 1997, and only three years later he became a member of the board of the coordination council of domestic manufacturers.
In 2009, Victor began to work in the government commission for the development of the metallurgical industry, which was headed by Igor Sechin.
Family status
Hobby
Viktor Rashnikov is an ardent fan of mountain and water skiing. Some sources say that it was thanks to him that a ski slope covered with artificial snow was built near Magnitogorsk. Also, Viktor Filippovich very much respects hockey. For almost 20 years, he leads the hockey club called Metallurg.
Deal
In the early 2000s, Rashnikov gave 150 million US dollars to Chigirinsky for joining the stake in the construction of the newest hotel complex “Russia”. But already in 2013, Viktor was paid a penalty from the government of the capital in the form of a Renaissance hotel for disrupting the project. The oligarch immediately sold the building, and, according to some financial experts, also for $ 150 million.
Support for your brainchild
In 2009, Viktor Rashnikov (MMK, the company he owns almost completely) made a rather non-standard decision: he completely refused his dividends in the amount of 1.86 billion rubles. The manager considered that these funds should be directed to support and various needs of the enterprise.
Scandals
Victor Rashnikov, whose biography is full of various events, repeatedly fell into the epicenters of scandals. So, the billionaire was charged with creating a corruption scheme for him, which consisted of working with 39 intermediary firms at low export prices. At the same time, the founders of these firms were either Rashnikov himself or his close associates. Also, Viktor Filippovich managed to establish coal supplies to the plant at inflated prices from Kuzbass. Money laundering took place with the help of Moscow banks and representative offices of foreign firms. It should be said that all this information does not have any serious documentary evidence and no legal proceedings have been conducted in this regard.
In 2014, Rashnikov actively supported the then acting temporary governor, and now the current head of the Chelyabinsk region, Boris Dubrovsky. As such, there was no scandal in this situation, but the local opposition and the public quite justifiably worried that Dubrovsky would become an active lobbyist for Rashnikov’s financial interests. And all because the governor had been under the wing of Viktor Filippovich at the metallurgical plant before his election to life. It was rumored that the oligarch not only poured money into the Dubrovsky campaign, but also paid for the very costly leisure of his protege. It was known that Dubrovsky rested in the most expensive hotels on the planet, including the only seven-star Burj al Arab. In this regard, for many it became obvious that money from the treasury of the region can begin to flow into structures owned by Rashnikov.
Robbery
On the Day of the metallurgist, which fell on July 15 in 2016, Viktor Rashnikov had an extremely unpleasant surprise - his house was robbed. According to operational data, at the very height of the holiday, unknown persons entered the cottage of the head of the plant and took out all the valuables and a rather large sum of money. At the moment, the security forces understand how the attackers managed to get into a fairly well-guarded territory.
Yachtsman
Victor Rashnikov, whose yacht, according to 2015, was one of the largest in the world, is true to himself: he approached the acquisition of the vessel with all responsibility, like any other issue.
The yacht called Ocean Victory is 140 meters long. She left the shipyard in Italy in 2014. The design of the yacht was developed by Espen Oino, while Alberto Pinto was engaged in the interior.
The vessel is equipped with a steel hull. The number of decks is seven. There are also six pools, each of which has a length of up to eight meters. There is also a helipad with a beach club. For a pleasant stay there is a SPA zone. Ease of movement between decks provides an elevator. In addition, the yacht is equipped with a garage for a fourteen-meter sailing vessel.
Viktor Filippovich's yacht can reach a speed of 19 knots per hour (approximately 35 km / h). During the development and construction, the creators paid attention to its environmental friendliness, using the most modern technologies and developments for this. Engineers made sure that the ship minimized harmful emissions of harmful substances and elements.
Degree of wealth
Viktor Rashnikov, whose current state is about $ 3.8 billion, was able to rise from thirty to twenty-third in the ranking of the richest people in Russia in a year . For comparison: Roman Abramovich, with his 7.6 billion, is in the thirteenth position of the rating, and Leonid Mikhelson is the leader, having $ 14.4 billion in his assets. In general, Russian billionaires, as before, can boast of high incomes and big fortunes.
Family business
In 2012, Rashnikov's daughter Olga joined the board of directors of Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works. This lady is quite closed to society. Various media quite often get confused in her personal data. It is only known for certain that she was born in 1977 and has three children.
Initially, the daughter of the oligarch studied at a simple school in Magnitogorsk, but after she continued her studies in Switzerland, where she was able to become a bachelor of economics. After that, the girl continued to learn science in Moscow, having attended Executive MBA courses at the State University of Management. According to some reports, Olga owns three apartments, but this fact is not confirmed.
Olga Viktorovna was not seen at various parties of the children of wealthy Russians, either at home or abroad. In addition, even in her native Magnitogorsk, she is rarely seen in public.
According to people who know Viktor Rashnikov’s daughter closely, she has a rather narrow circle of contacts and practically does not lead a secular life. It is noted that she is very pleasant in conversation, does not abuse jewelry and jewelry, and dresses very elegantly and elegantly. He treats his subordinates very strictly, but does not cross the line of reason. Olga also perfectly speaks three foreign languages and also teaches her children to knowledge. For this purpose, a professional nanny was called from abroad.
Rashnikov himself claims that he is not against the participation of both of his daughters in the metallurgical business. However, he does not represent any of them at the helm of a metallurgical enterprise, because this industry is exclusively a male prerogative, which takes a lot of time and energy, and a woman is still the keeper of the family hearth and must pay serious attention to the family.
Today
Rashnikov Viktor Filippovich (Forbes quite justifiably reckons him among the richest people in Russia) in May 2016 was once again re-elected to the post of chairman of the board of directors of the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works. Recall that the revenue of this company over the past year amounted to almost 6 billion US dollars.
This year earlier, Rashnikov said that at the MMK plant in Turkey, hot-rolled production can only be launched after confirming the economic feasibility of this event. So far, only the cold rolling workshop operates at Metalurji.
Also of Rashnikov’s achievements, it can be noted that this year between Magnitogorsk and Gazprom a contract was signed for the supply of pipes.
In addition, as the head of the Metallurg hockey club, Viktor Filippovich openly declared that he was ready to help the Russian Hockey Federation in building the newest hockey stadium in the Urals. In particular, he said that the plans include the construction of a training rink close to the existing ice arena.
Awards
- Viktor Filippovich has a medal “For Labor Valor”. He also has the Order of Merit and Honor.
- In the summer of 2002, Rashnikov was thanked on behalf of the President of the Russian Federation.
- As part of the award to them. Peter the Great in 2000, Victor received the title of laureate "For his great contribution to the development of the Russian economy."
- In 2001, he was awarded for increasing production and high quality of steel produced in the oxygen-converter shop.
- In 2002, he was awarded the Prize for the technological re-equipment of the energy sector based on energy-saving technologies, and also received the Kosygin Prize.