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Viatcheslav Kantor

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Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor (Russian: Вячеслав Моше Кантор,[1] born 8 September 1953) is a Russian businessman.

Viatcheslav Kantor
Вячеслав Кантор
Kantor in the Palace of Nations, Geneva
Kantor in 2009
Born
Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor
Вячеслав Моше Кантор

(1953-09-08) 8 September 1953 (age 71)
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
NationalityRussian
Citizenship
EducationMoscow Aviation Institute (diploma, 1976)
Moscow Aviation Institute (PhD, 1981)
OccupationBusinessman
SpouseAnna Kantor
Children5
Websitemoshekantor.com

Kantor was President of the European Jewish Congress, President of the World Holocaust Forum Foundation (WHF), Chairman of the European Jewish Fund (EJF), and Chairman of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) Policy Council.[2][3]

Early life and education

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Kantor was born and spent his early years in Moscow, and obtained a degree from the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI) in 1976 and did research for MAI and NPO Spektr. In 1981, he completed his PhD in Spacecraft Automatic Control Systems. He worked as a scientist and headed one of MAI research laboratories.

Career

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In 1989–1993, Kantor was Director General of Intelmas, a telecoms company. In 1996–2000 he was an economic adviser to the Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federal Assembly.

Kantor directly or through trusted persons controls the Acron Group,[4] one of the leading mineral fertilizer producers and distributors in the world.[5]

In 2021, Forbes estimated Kantor's net worth at US$7.6 billion.[6][7][8][9]

Kantor had[citation needed] close ties to the Vladimir Putin regime in Russia.[10] However, in 2014 he allocated at least two million dollars in aid to the voluntary Jewish battalion Matilan, formed to fight the separatists of Donbass backed with Putin regime.[11][12]

Sanctions

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Kantor was sanctioned by association by the British government in March 2022 in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[13][14] Consequently University College School has decided to review the name of its sports pavilion which is named after Kantor.[15][16]

On 8 April 2022 the European Union imposed sanctions against Viatcheslav Kantor.[17][18]

Civic activities

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Kantor was President of the European Jewish Congress. The EJC, the largest secular organization representing the interests of European Jewry, is an influential, international public association representing 2.5 million Jews across the European continent in 42 national Jewish communities.

In 2021, he was reelected Chairman of the Policy Council of the World Jewish Congress for the third time[19][20][21] Kantor is a Vice President of the Jewish Leadership Council.[22] In 2010, he established the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University.[23][24] In 2019, Yad Vashem nominated Moshe Kantor as Chancellor of the Council, and before it he served as its Member of Directorate since 2010.[25] Kantor was President of the Russian Jewish Congress (RJC) in 2005–2009. He founded and headed the World Holocaust Forum (WHF) in 2005. He is a founder and chairman of the European Jewish Fund (EJF), established in 2006.

He has chaired the World Holocaust Forum Foundation.[26][27] In 2020, the World Holocaust Forum organized by Kantor came under controversy after Vladimir Putin was allowed to give a speech that distorted the history of the Soviet Union in World War II.[9][8] The forum refused to allow Polish President Andrzej Duda to have a speaking slot.[9][8]

He is the founder and president of President of the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation (ECTR). Kantor drafted and has repeatedly attempted to pass the ECTR's proposed European law known as the Model National Statute for the Promotion of Tolerance, one of the most sweeping hate speech laws ever proposed in Europe.[28]

In 2007, Kantor founded and was elected president of the International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe, an international non-governmental organisation uniting leading world-renowned experts on nuclear non-proliferation, materials and delivery vehicles. The Forum was established pursuant to a decision of the International Conference held in Luxembourg on 24–25 May 2007. The conference was attended by over 50 renowned experts from 14 countries, including Sergey Kirienko, Director General of the Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation, Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Nikolay Laverov, Academician and Vice President of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), William Perry, former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Defense, and Hans Blix, Chairman of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission and former Director General of the IAEA.

Personal life

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Kantor is married to Anna Kantor and has four sons and a daughter. Kantor is a citizen of Russia, the United Kingdom and Israel.[29][30][31]

Kantor bought a violin made by the Italian violin maker Riccardo Antoniazzi in 1912. The violin has been given as a First Prize of the 2nd International Violinists Vladimir Spivakov Contest. Its price was $140,000.[32]

Kantor was a trustee of the Anna Freud Centre (London, UK), but was removed from this position after the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.[33][34] Kantor was previously a patron of King Solomon High School (London, UK).[35] Kantor supported the development of the school which is a Jewish Comprehensive school based in Redbridge.[36]

Kantor has been a benefactor of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden Foundation since 2013, in which capacity he has facilitated various projects.[37]

Kantor was appointed Life Governor and Trustee of the King Edward VII's Hospital in London after his charitable foundation funded the redevelopment of the site adjacent to the hospital, Macintosh House, which was subsequently renamed the Kantor Medical Centre.[38][39]

Kantor is president of the Museum of Avant-Garde Mastery (MAGMA),[40] founded in 2001 in Moscow on Kantor's initiative.

In 2018, President of the Russian Academy of Arts and People's Artist of the URSS Zurab Tsereteli officially awarded Kantor as the President of MAGMA Museum with the robe and diploma of Honorary Member of the Russian Academy of Arts.[41]

Honors and awards

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Kantor received the following government awards: Order of Friendship (Russia, 1998), Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit (Poland, 2005), Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (Ukraine, 2006), Order of Leopold (Belgium, 2009), Chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honour (France, 2012), Knight's Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Italy, 2013), Grand Cross with honours of the National Order of Merit (Romania, 2014), Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honour (France, 2014, presented in 2015), The Order of Honour (Russia, 2016), Officer of the Order of the Crown (Belgium, 2020) and Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria (Austria, 2021).[42]

He is an honorary citizen of Veliky Novgorod (1997)[43] and Honorary Member of the Russian Academy of Arts.[44]

In addition, he received an honorary doctorate from Tel-Aviv University (2004)[45] and the Medal of Merit "Deserved for Tolerance" by the Ecumenical Foundation Tolerance (2011).

Kantor has been recognized for seven consecutive years as one of the '50 Most Influential Jews in the World'.[46]

In 1997, Viatcheslav Kantor was named Honorary Citizen of Veliky Novgorod.[47]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Rebel, Alina (September 3, 2020). History of the Jews in Russia (in Russian). Litres. p. 249. ISBN 978-5-457-53661-6. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  2. ^ "Moshe Kantor to head WJC Policy Council". Eurpopean Jewish Congress. May 7, 2013. Archived from the original on 2017-02-04.
  3. ^ "Ron Lauder re-elected as WJC president". Ynetnews. May 8, 2013 – via www.ynetnews.com.
  4. ^ "Олигарх из серой зоны". Досье (in Russian). Retrieved 2024-11-13.
  5. ^ "Acron Group's Output Up 7% in 2020". www.acron.ru. 25 January 2021.
  6. ^ "Viatcheslav Kantor". Forbes. 2023-02-07.
  7. ^ "Holocaust row seethes as leaders gather in Israel". BBC News. 2020-01-22. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
  8. ^ a b c Scollon, Michael (February 7, 2020). "Dim The Lights And Cue The Revisionism: Russia Turns Holocaust Remembrance Into Political Theater". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
  9. ^ a b c Philp, Catherine (2020-02-04). "Vladimir Putin's Holocaust speech rewrote history, museum admits". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
  10. ^ Pfeffer, Anshel (1 February 2016). "How Putin's Man Made His Way to the Top of European Jewry". Haaretz. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
  11. ^ "Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor failed at war, but succeeded in Russian business". Talk Finance. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
  12. ^ Ukrajna ortodox főrabbija köszönetet mondott a magyar zsidók támogatásáért // Szombat: zsidó politikai, kulturális és tudományos folyóirat (Hungary), 23.03.2022.
  13. ^ Coughlan, Sean (6 March 2022). "Queen's hospital donor placed on UK's Russia sanctions list". BBC News. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  14. ^ "Moshe Kantor, president of the Jewish Congress, sanctioned by the U.K government for his ties to Putin's 'war economy'". EJP. 2022-04-06. Retrieved 2022-04-10.
  15. ^ Lister-Fell, Frankie (2022-04-08). "School 'reviews' sports pavilion name after oligarch sanctioned". Hampstead Highgate Express. Retrieved 2022-04-10.
  16. ^ "CONSOLIDATED LIST OF FINANCIAL SANCTIONS TARGETS IN THE UK" (PDF). Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  17. ^ "Official Journal L 110/2022". eur-lex.europa.eu. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
  18. ^ "Fifth package of sanctions in view of Russia's military aggression against Ukraine: EU adopts restrictive measures against an additional 217 individuals and 18 entities". consilium.europa.eu. 2022-04-08. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
  19. ^ Congress, World Jewish. "World Jewish Congress". World Jewish Congress.
  20. ^ "EJC President Moshe Kantor re-elected as Chairman of World Jewish Congress' Policy Council". Archived from the original on 26 August 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
  21. ^ Congress, World Jewish. "World Jewish Congress". World Jewish Congress.
  22. ^ "Vice Presidents". Jewish Leadership Council. Archived from the original on March 24, 2019. Retrieved September 2, 2019.
  23. ^ "'Holocaust didn't erase Jewish life'". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 10 May 2010.
  24. ^ "World's 50 most influential Jews". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 21 May 2010.
  25. ^ "Mr. & MRS. Moshe Kantor, Russia".
  26. ^ Hendrix, Steve; Eglash, Ruth; Parker, Ashley (23 January 2020). "World leaders convene in Jerusalem to remember Holocaust and counter anti-Semitism". The Washington Post. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  27. ^ "About the Fifth World Holocaust Forum". Yad Vashem. The World Holocaust Remembrance Center.
  28. ^ Ian Traynor (January 25, 2015). "Jewish leaders call for Europe-wide legislation outlawing antisemitism". The Guardian. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  29. ^ "Viatcheslav Kantor". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  30. ^ "Just Don't Call Them Gaydamak: Meet Israel's Russian Oligarchs". Haaretz. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  31. ^ Elgot, Jessica; Jolly, Jasper (2022-04-06). "Moshe Kantor: UK sanctions Russian billionaire over ties to Putin". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  32. ^ "The Winner of the Vladimir Spivakov Contest Will Get a Violin for $140,000". Bashinform. September 17, 2018.
  33. ^ "Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families". www.annafreud.org.
  34. ^ "Trustees of Anna Freud Centre".
  35. ^ "Home". Kantor King Solomon High School.
  36. ^ Davis, Alex. "King Solomon school changes name in Jewish leader's honour". www.jewishnews.co.uk.
  37. ^ "Boards and Committees". www.roh.org.uk.
  38. ^ "King Edward VII's Hospital. Annual Report and Financial Statements" (PDF).
  39. ^ Baxendale, Barney. "Our Team".
  40. ^ "Museum of Avant-Garde Mastery".
  41. ^ "President of the Museum of Avant-Garde Mastery Viatcheslav Kantor elected Honorary Member of the Russian Academy of Arts".
  42. ^ "Grapevine November 12: Yet another honor". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 11 November 2021. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
  43. ^ "Реш. Новгородской городской Думы от 12/10/1997 №272 "О присвоении звания "Почетный гражданин Новгорода"". docs.adm.nov.ru (in Russian).
  44. ^ "З. К. Церетели вручил регалии почётного члена Российской академии художеств Вячеславу Кантору и Марине Лошак". rah.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2020-12-08.
  45. ^ "Tel Aviv University Webflash". May 2004. Archived from the original on 2004-06-16.
  46. ^ "The Jerusalem Post's 50 most influential Jews". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
  47. ^ "Honorary Citizens of Veliky Novgorod at the City Administration website – Viatcheslav Kantor – 08.09.1953". Archived from the original on 10 April 2017. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
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