Potanin's ex-wife gave a frank interview: about the complex character of the billionaire, about a sudden divorce in the form of an ultimatum and the division of a house with a broken roof and a stove-stove. photo. Billionaire Potanin showed his young wife (photo) Wives of Vladimir Potan

25.04.2024 -

Vladimir Potanin is one of the richest people on the planet, who has been a leader among Russian and world billionaires for 20 years. Vladimir Potanin is the owner of Russia's largest investment company Interros, and also owns controlling stakes in the mining and metallurgical company Norilsk Nickel, the Russian media holding Prof-Media and the ski resort in Krasnaya Polyana Rosa Khutor.

Potanin Vladimir Olegovich was born on January 3, 1961 in the capital of Russia in the family of trade representative of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Trade Oleg Romanovich and doctor Tamara Ananyevna. Vladimir became the first and only son of his parents, who invested all the best in their son. Due to the work of the head of the Potanin family, Vladimir, by the standards of Soviet times, belonged to the category of “golden youth”, but did not cause any trouble to his own parents.

In childhood and adolescence, the future billionaire grew up as a well-rounded boy. The boy was interested in studying foreign languages and sports, and at his school desk he behaved like an exemplary student. This allowed Vladimir, after graduating from school, to easily enter MGIMO at the Faculty of International Economic Relations in the commercial department. The young man graduated from the university with a diploma in “international economics” and, following in his father’s footsteps, got a job at the USSR Ministry of Foreign Trade, where he worked for 8 years until the early 90s.

Business

Vladimir Potanin's business career began to develop in 1990 - Vladimir Potanin founded and headed his own investment company, Interros. In the same year, the businessman met, who in the future became Potanin’s main business partner.

Together, the businessmen founded the International Financial Company bank, of which Potanin became president. This financial institution is considered the first Russian bank to receive a license, since all of IBEC's Soviet assets worth $400 million were transferred to it, along with its banking clientele. Later, Vladimir Olegovich became the president of JSCB ONEXIM, which today is among the TOP 5 largest banks in the Russian Federation.

In 1995, Potanin bought a controlling stake in the Russian mining and metallurgical company Norilsk Nickel, and in 1997 he created the Prof-Media holding, which included the largest Russian media, such as Izvestia, Afisha, Komsomolskaya Pravda ", "Big city".

In 2007, Vladimir Potanin announced the division of business with his long-time partner Mikhail Prokhorov. This process dragged on for several years and resulted in a serious conflict. Other major businessmen of the country also joined the “war” between Potanin and Prokhorov, which led to a scandal between the “friends” on a wide scale and coverage.

Potanin’s main focus today is the development of the Interros and Norilsk Nickel companies. Also, in developing his own business projects, Vladimir Potanin teamed up with the owner of the Metalloinvest holding. Businessmen plan, with the help of a “triple” alliance of companies, to create a global metallurgical giant that will be a leader in the production of nickel, iron ore and aluminum on the planet.

Policy

In addition to business, billionaire Vladimir Potanin regularly participated in the political life of the country throughout his own career. In 1996, Vladimir Potanin was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. At that time, the businessman’s responsibilities included coordinating the economic block of issues.

During that period, Potanin also headed 20 federal, interdepartmental and government commissions on Russia's monetary and financial policies. Potanin also became the manager for the Russian Federation at the World Bank and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency.

In 2006, the oligarch joined the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, where he became chairman of the Commission on Volunteering and Charity. Thanks to the initiatives of this commission, federal laws were adopted in the country to support the development of public organizations and NPOs, and individuals carrying out charity received tax benefits.

Charity

The charitable activities of Vladimir Potanin occupy an important place in the biography of the businessman. For 20 years now, the Potanin Charitable Foundation, created by the billionaire, has been operating uninterruptedly, carrying out activities aimed at developing culture and education in Russia.

The Potanin Foundation offers scholarship programs for talented students. The fund has an official website, where details of the fund’s work and requirements for recipients of assistance are posted. The charity program really helps students and teachers. The foundation’s own goal is to create “conditions for the development of creative potential, the development of creative thinking, and the expansion of opportunities for professional and creative fulfillment.” Over 20 years, 26 thousand students and 2 thousand teachers from 83 universities in Russia received grants and scholarships.

In addition, the charitable foundation holds events to support cultural initiatives and philanthropy. Lectures and seminars on the work of NGOs in Russia are announced on the website.

Since 2003, the billionaire became the head of the Board of Trustees of the State Hermitage, into which he invested $5 million from his own funds. In 2006, Potanin took his native MGIMO under his guardianship, donating $6.5 million to its endowment fund.

In 2013, Vladimir Olegovich joined the philanthropic campaign “Oath of Giving”, thereby agreeing to donate at least half of his fortune to charitable needs. He became the first Russian businessman to take such a bold step.

Personal life

The personal life of Vladimir Potanin has always been a subject of interest to the general public. The first time he married while still a student was his childhood friend Natalya, with whom he was married for more than 30 years. During this time, three children were born into the Potanin family - Anastasia, Ivan and Vasily. The billionaire's eldest children are Russian and world champions in jet skiing.

In 2014, the strong and large family of the oligarch fell apart, which was initiated by Vladimir Olegovich. According to the billionaire’s wife, his statement came as a shock to her, but she was unable to save the marriage. The divorce proceedings of the Potanins were long and loud. They still have not resolved all financial issues, since the businessman’s wife insists on dividing the property acquired during their joint married life.

After his divorce from Natalya, Vladimir Potanin. His wife was Ekaterina, his youngest by 14 years, who at the time of her marriage was raising a three-year-old daughter, Varvara. The girl’s father, according to open sources, is Potanin. In 2014, Forbes magazine reported that the oligarch had a fifth child.

Vladimir Potanin now

As of January 2016, Vladimir Potanin’s fortune was estimated at $12.1 billion, which allowed him to take fourth position in the ranking of the richest people in Russia. Compared to 2015, the oligarch lost $3.3 billion, due to which he was the leader among Russian billionaires and the richest person in the country.

In 2017, Forbes magazine placed Potanin in 8th place in the Russian ranking of billionaires and in 77th position in the world. The businessman's fortune was estimated at $14.3 billion.

However, Vladimir Potanin spends part of his own income on charity. For example, a businessman donated $5 million to the Hermitage endowment fund.

Projects

1990 - President of the foreign economic association "Interros"
1992-1993 – President and founder of the International Financial Company bank
1993 – President of JSCB ONEXIM Bank
1995 – owner of a controlling stake in Norilsk Nickel
1996 – member of the board of directors of Svyazinvest
1997 - created the holding company Prof-Media (Izvestia, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Afisha and Big City)
1998 – Chairman of the Board of Directors of the holding company Interros (FIG Interros, Norilsk Nickel and SIDANCO)
1999 - established the non-profit charitable organization "Potanin Charitable Foundation"
2000s - began the construction and development of ski slopes in the Krasnaya Polyana area, which later became part of the venues for the XXII Winter Olympic Games
2001 – Member of the Board of Trustees of the Solomon Guggenheim Foundation
2002 - Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Hermitage-Guggenheim Charitable Foundation
2003 - Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the State Hermitage
2006 - headed the Commission on the Development of Charity, Mercy and Volunteering
2008-2010 – headed projects to improve legislation on NPOs
2013 – the first Russian entrepreneur to join the philanthropic campaign “Giving Pledge”

The oligarch was sure that after the elections capitalism in Russia would end

The divorce of Natalia and Vladimir POTANIN has been going on for four years now. To date, according to court decisions, Natalya Nikolaevna and the billionaire’s three children have received less than one tenth of one percent of his declared fortune. The main reason for this abnormal situation, even by Russian standards, is that , that the oligarch does not officially own a single enterprise in the country. He was going to connect his fate with another state and transferred his assets to such inaccessible places that neither his wife nor Russian courts could now reach. Moreover, the latter are not interested in looking for anything.

At personal insistence Vladimir Potanin All trials with my ex-wife are being held behind closed doors. The process can only be judged by those documents that are officially published on the Internet. Among the many papers there were photocopies of American O-3 visas issued to the wife and youngest son of the oligarch Vasily Potanin. O-3 is issued to family members of the holder of the first category O-1 visa. This is a visa for people with extraordinary achievements in certain fields, such as business. This is exactly what the billionaire had. Usually the next step after O-1 is obtaining a residence permit. Was this really what was going on?

We really planned to move the whole family to the USA by 2012. Vladimir Olegovich personally selected a place of study for his youngest son Vasya - the New York Friends Academy. The elder Ivan was already living in New York by that time, working in the investment company AltPoint owned by his father, confirmed the authenticity of the documents Natalia Potanin.

With his wife Natalya and youngest son Vasily on vacation in Jordan in 2010

Natalya Nikolaevna chose to remain silent about the reasons for the urgent evacuation overseas. But the deadlines for obtaining visas and the significant figure of 2012 explain everything perfectly.

Russia was then preparing for elections. The oligarchy and the liberal public hoped that Dmitry Medvedev will run for a second presidential term. However, on September 24, 2011, the United Russia congress nominated Vladimir Putin. Judging by the dates of receiving visas - November 18, 2011, it was after the congress that Vladimir Olegovich began to arrange his move to the United States.

Many oligarchs were in a panicky mood at that moment. Everyone expected an immediate tightening of the screws and a return to the Soviet Union. None of the new owners of life wanted to go there again. For Vladimir Vladimirovich, this is the collapse of the USSR - the largest geopolitical catastrophe of the twentieth century, and for Vladimir Olegovich - this is a golden time. The ideologist of loans-for-shares auctions did not become a billionaire in order to share. After all, it was he, as the head of ONEXIM Bank, who put forward a scheme where the state took out a loan from a bank, and instead of money paid with shares of enterprises. As a result, the bankers got the tastiest pieces of the Soviet mining industry for next to nothing.

“We are dealing with theft of federal property on an unprecedented scale. The cost of only the most expensive and strategically significant six auctions in 1995 was deliberately underestimated by 20 times and amounted to only $1.867 billion. After a year and a half, the shares of these enterprises were already worth $39.713 billion,” writes the president of the Russian Sociological Association Vladimir Dobrenkov.

The revision of this scheme is still a nightmare for the Russian oligarchy, a nightmare for its organizers.

Gave up children

One can only guess about the reasons why the move failed. Most likely, the plan reached the intelligence services - the construction of Olympic facilities in Sochi was under threat, and from somewhere above the sacramental phrase could have been heard: “And I will ask you to stay.”

From that moment on, the billionaire seemed to have been replaced. He took a mistress, for some reason built two identical megayachts, bought a second plane, and finally, after 30 years of a happy marriage, he left his family.

The last time the Potanins spoke was in November 2013, when Vladimir Olegovich, after a family dinner, unexpectedly invited his wife to sign divorce papers.

The message about his desire to get a divorce sounded completely casual. This is how they ask for sugar or cream. He promised me medical care and security. This is all. The offer was humiliating. Even the house, which was intended as a family house and which was built by the whole family, Vladimir urgently demanded to be vacated. But I did not accept his offer for another reason,” recalls Natalya Nikolaevna. “Vladimir’s words did not guarantee anything for our children. Time has confirmed that I was right: since December 2013, the father has never called his sons. You will laugh, I even felt somehow offended. Everyone has disputes about children, with whom the child will live, with whom to spend the holidays. There wasn't a single question here.

When the youngest son Vasya found out about the divorce, he immediately dialed his father’s mobile phone. At the other end of the line there was a dry voice: “Don’t call again.” The billionaire acted no less cruelly with his eldest son Ivan. After the first attempt to stand up for his mother, Ivan was sent an email about his dismissal from his father’s company.

American visas for Natalia and Vasily POTANIN

Looks like a beggar

As absurd as this may sound, in fact the courts decided that, apart from an apartment and a couple of land plots of 15 acres, the Potanin couple had not acquired anything else during their 30 years of marriage, which is unprecedented for Russian legal practice.

It got ridiculous. Forbes magazine in 2015 recognized Potanin, with a personal fortune of $15.4 billion, as the richest resident of Russia, and at the same time a judge of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation Boris Gorokhov wrote in his determination that the shares of PJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel and the shares of the Interros company do not belong to Potanin and he is as naked as a falcon.

During the trials, it turned out that even the oligarch’s personal property, from his hat to his slippers, was also not entirely his. Since the purchase of absolutely any small items was paid for by a stranger and only with a card linked to one of the offshore accounts.

According to the legal analytics portal Legal.Report, which carefully examined the decisions of courts of various levels, they do not yet leave Natalya Potanina a chance to lay claim to any significant amount of material assets.

As my lawyers explained, Vladimir Olegovich created a multi-stage structure of nominee companies that funneled money into trusts and offshore companies in various tax-free jurisdictions. Thus, Vladimir “hidden” from me and the Russian courts family property and colossal sums - both dividends and income received from the sale of assets, says Natalya Potanina.

With all this, Vladimir Potanin has developed the image of a patriot. He never tires of repeating that he has retained his position as a tax resident of Russia. However, his tax residency does not bring anything to the state at all, because the only property registered to Vladimir Olegovich in Russia is an elite apartment in the center of Moscow, from which he evicted his children and wife after the divorce, although he paid them their due share. The oligarch's former family now lives on this money.

Not long ago there was a message about the appointment of Vladimir Potanin as one of the curators of the presidential project “Leaders of Russia” - a kind of competitive selection for active citizens intending to become officials. It’s scary to imagine what he will teach them. The country will not survive a new loans-for-shares auction.

Think about it!

Norilsk Nickel President Vladimir Potanin may take first place in the list of the richest people in Russia in 2017, writes Bloomberg. According to the agency's estimates, Potanin's fortune has increased to $19 billion since the beginning of the year. Bloomberg associates its growth with the rise in price of the company's shares, 30 percent of which, according to them, belong to Potanin. Apparently, the agency considers decisions of Russian courts to be pieces of paper exclusively for internal use.

She challenged in court the ban on her son traveling abroad. Natalia Potanina's claim was accepted for consideration by the Presnensky Court of Moscow. Hearings on the high-profile case will be held on December 1.

Potanin achieved a divorce and a special system for calculating alimony - half of it began to go to the account of Vasily himself. And half is at the expense of the ex-wife. This was done so that Natalya could not manage the money that was intended for the child. Note that Potanin ranks eighth in the ranking of the richest people in Russia. His fortune is estimated at $12.4 billion.

Potanin married the mother of his child

In his new marriage, Potanin has a three-year-old daughter, Varvara. The girl was born before the businessman’s official divorce.

It is possible that in one of the recent interviews the billionaire’s ex-wife mentioned Ekaterina. “It turned out that my husband had a mistress. The relationship lasted three years. I knew nothing about it,” Vesti.Ru quotes her.

Let us remind you that Vladimir and Natalya divorced in February 2014. In April, it became known that Potanin paid his ex-wife 9.3 million rubles. The transferred amount is alimony for March and the end of February 2014. The Potanins have three children: daughter Anastasia (29 years old), sons Ivan (24 years old) and Vasily (13 years old), whom his father forbade him to travel abroad.

At the same time, the end to the litigation between Potanin and his ex-wife Natalya has not yet been reached. According to the court decision, a businessman must allocate a quarter of his salary to support a minor child.

It is reported that the wedding took place this summer, after which the newlyweds went on their honeymoon to the Cote d'Azur.

Potanin was the initiator of the official separation of the couple. He filed for divorce on November 21, 2013. The magistrate granted the claim three months later, obliging the businessman to pay his wife 25 percent of his earnings monthly (approximately 8.5 million rubles). At the end of June 2014, the Presnensky Court of Moscow decided to limit Potanina’s ability to use alimony. Natalya Potanina tried to challenge this decision in the appellate instance, but the court sided with the oligarch.

Meanwhile, the lawsuits that accompanied Potanin’s divorce are far from over. In early October, it became known that Natalya Potanina decided to divide the jointly acquired property and filed a corresponding lawsuit.

Potanin, who according to Forbes magazine is seventh on the list of Russia's richest businessmen for 2013, divorced his wife in early 2014. He previously stated that he would give his entire fortune (which, as of 2013, was about $15 billion) to charity rather than leaving it to his heirs.

From his first marriage, Potanin has three children: daughter Anastasia (born in 1984), sons Ivan and Vasily (born in 1989 and 2000). According to the portal Super.ru, in his new marriage he has a three-year-old daughter, Varvara.

For Potanin's ex-wife, the divorce came as a surprise

Billionaire Vladimir Potanin, whose personal life has recently become the main topic at all social events, appeared at the event for the first time in the company of his new wife. The 53-year-old businessman came with his blonde lover to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.

One of the richest people in Russia, billionaire Vladimir Potanin, whose marriage was considered exemplary among the Russian rich, without waiting for the end of the divorce process and the division of property with his former wife, showed his new wife to journalists. The presentation of the new marital status took place in the Hermitage. Nikolai Tsiskaridze, Anna Netrebko with her fiancé Eyvaz Yusifov and others also visited the anniversary of the legendary museum.

ON THIS TOPIC

39-year-old Ekaterina, who did not hide her happy smile all evening, appeared before the public in a long, elegant dress with black lace. The entrepreneur himself tried not to attract attention to himself, and while the guests of the event were at a concert dedicated to the 250th anniversary of the Hermitage, he went to enjoy art in the company of his beautiful wife, writes Super.ru.

Let us remind you that billionaire Vladimir Potanin tied the knot again after divorcing his wife Natalya. The entrepreneur's chosen one was his subordinate. Their wedding took place on the Cote d'Azur, at the legendary Hotel Du Cap Eden Roc. The end to the litigation between Potanin and his ex-wife Natalya has not yet been reached.

From his first marriage, Potanin has three children: daughter Anastasia (born in 1984), sons Ivan and Vasily (born in 1989 and 2000). With his new wife he has a three-year-old daughter, Varvara.

Natalya Potanina, the ex-wife of one of the richest people in Russia, whose fortune was estimated by Forbes at $14.3 billion in 2017, was unable to get 850 billion rubles from him. as compensation for shares in several Cypriot companies owning shares in Norilsk Nickel and Polyus Gold.

Natalia and Vladimir Potanin. Photo: "Morning"

The Presnensky Court of Moscow, which considered this high-profile case, refused to satisfy her claim due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. As Interfax reports, citing the plaintiff's lawyer Pavel Konovalov, justice thus sided with Vladimir Potanin, who asked for exactly this.

In her lawsuit, the businessman’s ex-wife demanded that the Cypriot offshore companies, in which the shares of the businessman’s main assets are registered, including the entire chain of “attached” trusts, be recognized as common property and that she be paid half of their value as compensation.

At the end of May, the businessman’s ex-wife received a similar refusal on another demand - to pay her 215 billion rubles. compensation for half of Vladimir Potanin's stake in KM-Invest CJSC, which owned shares in Norilsk Nickel, Polyus Gold, Rosbank, Power Machines and other companies. Natalya Potanina stated that after the breakdown of family relations, her ex-husband unlawfully transferred these shares to a third party. The wording in the court decision was the same - the statute of limitations had expired.

During the divorce (in 2014), the court did not consider shares of companies owned by Potanin as part of the property, since formally he was not their owner. Then the ex-wife received three plots of land and two houses, one of which is located on Rublyovka, as well as 375 million rubles. compensation for half of the apartment in Skatertny Lane in the center of Moscow.

But Potanina was not satisfied with this division of property, and she began hunting for her ex-husband’s business. In 2014, the lawyers she hired started a lawsuit in Cyprus against the structures of Interros, the company that manages the main assets of the Russian billionaire. But they were a fiasco - the Limassol court did not consider the claim, declaring that the case should be considered in Russia.

According to Potanina’s lawyer, at home, representatives of Themis created all sorts of obstacles for her, effectively depriving her of access to justice. But the ex-wife of the owner of Norilsk Nickel does not intend to give up - her representative promises an appeal against the decision made today by the Presnensky Court.

The Potanins have been married since 1983, they have three children, but, as the court found, this union actually broke up in 2007, and in 2013 the businessman filed for divorce. It is noteworthy that without money (if we compare what his ex-wife got with his capital), Vladimir Potanin left not only his ex-wife, but also his children. He said that he would give all his wealth to charity, following the example of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. True, as the daughter of a Russian billionaire stated, before making such a decision, the father consulted with the children.