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Andrey Kostin

(Redirected from Andrey L. Kostin)
In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Leonidovich and the family name is Kostin.
Not to be confused with the Ukrainian lawyer and politician Andriy Kostin.

Andrey Leonidovich Kostin (Russian: Андрей Леонидович Костин; born September 21, 1956) is a Russian businessman who is chairman of the United Shipbuilding Corporation's Board of Directors since August 25, 2023. President and Chairman of the Board of VTB since June 10, 2002

Andrey Kostin
Андрей Костин
Kostin in 2012
Born
Andrey L. Kostin

(1956-09-21) September 21, 1956 (age 68)
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
NationalityRussian
Alma materMoscow State University, Faculty of Economics
OccupationChairman of United Shipbuilding Corporation

Education and career

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In 1973, Kostin began studies at Moscow State University, graduating in 1979 with a degree in political economy. He subsequently worked at the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[1] From that year, until 1982 he was an employee of the USSR Consulate General in Sydney, Australia. From 1982 to 1985, he was Secretary of the European Department of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[2] In 1985, he became an employee of the USSR Embassy in Great Britain working on economic issues with the KGB spy Alexander Lebedev, where he remained until 1990.[3][4] From then to 1992, he was First Secretary, Advisor to the European Department of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 
Kostin, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong at the APEC Australia 2007
 
Kostin and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at an opening ceremony of the Russian Commercial Bank in Cyprus in 2010

He is the president of the Financial and Banking Council of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS-FBC)[5][6] from 2006 to 2017, being succeeded by Vadim Kumin.[7]

In May 2017, Kostin suggested the Washington elite was purposefully disrupting the presidency of Donald Trump by spreading false accusations about his ties to Russia.[8] In January 2018, Kostin said that additional sanctions against Russian individuals or entities would be an "economic war".[9][10]

He is on the supervisory board of Post Bank.[11]

On August 25, 2023, Kostin was elected as the chairman of the Board of Directors of the United Shipbuilding Corporation by the board.[12]

Criticism and corruption allegations

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Blocking of publications by Roskomnadzor

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On April 4, 2019, the Vedomosti newspaper drew attention to the massive blocking of publications by Roskomnadzor on the Internet, most of which mentioned gifts from VTB bank president Andrei Kostin to Nailya Asker-zade [az; ka; lez; ru], a television journalist and his longtime girlfriend.[13][14][15] In the interests of VTB, and by a court decision, Roskomnadzor blocked about 1000 publications.[16]

On December 2, 2019, FBK’s Alexei Navalny released an investigation about Kostin's relationship with Naila Asker-zade on YouTube. In this video Alexei Navalny accused Kostin of making gifts to journalist Nailya Asker-zade[14] (use of a business jet, yacht, house in the cottage village, two apartments, one of them directly from VTB, second from Kirill Zimarin, the head of a subsidiary of VTB in Cyprus) with proof from her Instagram account. Kostin, according to Navalny in his video clip, uses money belonging to the bank, 60.9% of which is state-owned, to buy luxurious real estate for his beloved. According to The Bell said that there is a link between VTB and the business jet, but not with the yacht, and that it is impossible to draw a conclusion about the owners of the plane and yacht, as well as who paid for the journalist's travels. On December 25, 2019, Kostin said that he would think about what actions to take about the investigation, and refused to comment.[17][18]

Sanctions

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In April 2018, the United States imposed sanctions on him and 23 other Russian nationals.[19][20]

On March 15, 2019, Canada imposed sanctions on a number of individuals, including Kostin, over violations of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.[21] He was also sanctioned by decree of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on June 24, 2021.[22]

On February 23, 2022, after Russia's recognition of the DPR and LPR, Kostin was included in the sanctions list of all countries of the European Union.[23]

Following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the UK imposed sanctions on Kostin which involved freezing his assets and a travel ban.[24] After the invasion, Switzerland, Japan, New Zealand and Australia also imposed sanctions.[25][26][27][28][29]

Sanctions evasion charges

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On February 22, 2024, the United States Department of Justice charged Kostin and two associates, Vadim Wolfson and Gannon Bond, with money laundering and violating the American sanctions against him. Allegedly, Wolfson and Bond renovated and sold Kostin's luxury home in Aspen on his behalf and wired him around $12 million of the proceeds, and illegally used American currency to maintain Kostin's superyachts.[30] The three are also accused of laundering funds through a series of shell companies for these purposes. Wolfson and Bond were arrested that morning and presented to federal courts, while Kostin avoided arrest due to residing in Russia.[31]

Personal life

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According to official data, Kostin is married, has children and a grandson.[32] Nailya Asker-Zade, a reporter on the state-run channel Russia-24, is his long-time girlfriend.[13][14][15]

His eldest son Andrey (1978–2011), worked as deputy chairman of the board of Deutsche Bank in Russia. He died on July 2, 2011, during a trip on an ATV while on vacation in the Yaroslavl Region.[33][34][35][36][37][38][39]

References

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  1. ^ "Человек при деньгах". 1001.ru. 14 June 2012.
  2. ^ "Глава ВТБ Андрей Костин — РБК: "К великой изоляции пришли все"". RBC. 20 April 2020.
  3. ^ Седунов, Александр (Sedunov, Alexander) (17 August 2015). "25 лет Всемирной Истории с Банком Империал" [25 years of World History with Imperial Bank]. Information Agency InterRight (in Russian). Archived from the original on 23 March 2022. Retrieved 22 March 2022.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Elliott, John; Ungoed-Thomas, Jon (7 January 2007). "Tycoon linked with Litvinenko 'survived poisoning'". The Sunday Times. London. Archived from the original on 24 February 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  5. ^ "Andrey Kostin official bio". vtb.com. Archived from the original on 2017-08-02.
  6. ^ "Profile – Andrey Leonidovich Kostin". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2022-04-23.
  7. ^ "Биография – Вадим Валентинович Кумин" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2018-09-06.
  8. ^ Arnold, Martin; Buckley, Neil (30 May 2017). "Putin ally accuses US elite of 'paralysing' Trump". Financial Times. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  9. ^ Golubkova, Katya; Antonov, Dmitry (January 22, 2018). "Russia's VTB bank head Kostin shrugs off U.S. sanctions risk". Reuters. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
  10. ^ Rudnitsky, Jake; Lacqua, Francine (January 24, 2018). "U.S. Sanctions Would Be 'Economic War' to Head of Russia's VTB". Bloomberg. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
  11. ^ "Избран новый состав наблюдательного совета "Почта Банка"" [The new composition of the Supervisory Board "Bank of the Post" was elected]. Post Bank (Russia) website (in Russian). December 27, 2017. Archived from the original on February 13, 2018. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
  12. ^ "Андрей Костин избран Председателем Совета директоров АО «ОСК»" (Press release) (in Russian). United Shipbuilding Corporation. August 25, 2023. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
  13. ^ a b Troianovski, Anton (2019-12-03). "From a Russian Banker, a $4 Million Mansion and a 200-Foot Yacht". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  14. ^ a b c "Russian officials appropriating jets for family and lovers, says activist". the Guardian. 2019-12-04. Retrieved 2021-08-17.
  15. ^ a b Moscow, Tom Parfitt. "Andriy Kostin, Russian banker and Putin ally, 'lavished gifts on young girlfriend using state funds'". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  16. ^ Ксения Болецкая, Екатерина Брызгалова (2019-04-04). "Роскомнадзор массово блокирует статьи о ВТБ и его президенте. Под запрет попало около 1000 публикаций, юристы называют это прецедентом". Ведомости.
  17. ^ "ВТБ снял рекламу в "Ведомостях" после статьи о Костине. По данным "Коммерсанта", газета может быть продана". The Bell. 2019-04-09.
  18. ^ Роскомнадзор массово блокирует статьи о ВТБ и его президенте // Версия, 6 июня 2019 года
  19. ^ "Ukraine-/Russia-related Designations and Identification Update". United States Department of the Treasury. 2018-04-06. Retrieved 2018-04-06.
  20. ^ "США ввели санкции против семи российских олигархов и 17 чиновников из "кремлевского списка"" [The US imposed sanctions against seven Russian oligarchs and 17 officials from the "Kremlin list"]. Meduza (in Russian). 2018-04-06. Retrieved 2018-04-06.
  21. ^ Government of Canada, Public Works and Government Services Canada (2019-04-03). "Canada Gazette, Part 2, Volume 153, Number 7: Regulations Amending the Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations". gazette.gc.ca. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  22. ^ "УКАЗ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА УКРАЇНИ №266/2021" (in Ukrainian).
  23. ^ "EUR-Lex - 32022R0260 - EN - EUR-Lex". eur-lex.europa.eu. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  24. ^ "UK freezes assets of seven Russian oligarchs including Roman Abramovich". The Guardian. 2022-03-10. Retrieved 2022-03-10.
  25. ^ SECO, Staatssekretariat für Wirtschaft. "Massnahmen im Zusammenhang mit der Situation in der Ukraine". www.seco.admin.ch (in German). Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  26. ^ "Japan sanctions Russian oligarchs and Belarus officials". UPI. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  27. ^ Trade, New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and. "Russia Sanctions". New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  28. ^ "Australia includes head of Russia's Central Bank in sanctions list". Report News Agency. 8 April 2022. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  29. ^ "CONSOLIDATED LIST OF FINANCIAL SANCTIONS TARGETS IN THE UK" (PDF). Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  30. ^ Legare, Robert (22 February 2024). "U.S. charges head of Russian bank with sanctions evasion, arrests 2 in alleged money laundering scheme". CBS News.
  31. ^ "Sanctioned Russian Oligarch And Others Indicted For Sanctions Violations And Money Laundering". U.S. Department of Justice. 22 February 2024.
  32. ^ "Костин, Андрей - Биография". Лентапедия.
  33. ^ Биография заместителя председателя правления Deutsche Bank Андрея Костина, Газета.ру, 04.07.2011
  34. ^ "Костин Андрей Леонидович" [Kostin Andrey Leonidovich]. Lobbying.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on March 31, 2019. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
  35. ^ "Костин Андрей" [Kostin Andrey]. Lenta.ru (in Russian). Retrieved October 17, 2018.
  36. ^ Troianovski, Anton; Matsnev, Oleg (2019-12-03). "From a Russian Banker, a $4 Million Mansion and a 200-Foot Yacht". The New York Times. Moscow. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-08-23.
  37. ^ "Сын главы ВТБ Андрей Костин разбился на квадроцикле: 32-летний банкир погиб на отдыхе в Ярославской области" [The son of the head of VTB Andrei Kostin crashed on a quad: 32-year-old banker died on holiday in the Yaroslavl region]. Izvestia (in Russian). July 2, 2011. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
  38. ^ Шипилов, Евгений; Танас, Ольга (July 4, 2011). "Погиб на трезвую голову: В ДТП погиб сын президента ВТБ Андрей Костин" [Killed sober: The accident killed the son of the president of VTB Andrei Kostin]. Gazeta (in Russian). Retrieved October 17, 2018.
  39. ^ Protess, Ben; Silver-Greenberg, Jessica; Drucker, Jesse (July 19, 2017). "Big German Bank, Key to Trump's Finances, Faces New Scrutiny". The New York Times. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
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