Viktor Chernomyrdin The former minister of the gas industry who transformed the ministry into the joint stock company Gazprom. He later became a prime minister of Russia. Yeltsin later fired him and made him chairman of Gazprom.
Oleg Deripaska An oligarch who became a favorite of Putin, Deripaska won control of Rusal, the country’s largest aluminum company. A controversial figure, at various times he has been denied visas to visit the United States. He is said to have become a major holder of General Motors stock.
Robert Dudley The managing head of the TNK-BP oil company.
Boris Fedorov A former minister of finance, he went on to become a major partner in United Financial Group. A major stockholder in Gazprom, Federov led an effort to remove its then CEO Rem Vyakhirev.
Dmytro Firtash A Ukrainian businessman who began by bartering goods between Ukraine and Turkmenistan, he became the head of Eural Trans Gas, a shadowy intermediary between Ukraine, Turkmenistan, and Gazprom.
Mikhail Fridman One of the original oligarchs who created Alfa Bank. He also became one of the principle owners of Tyumen Oil. He is one of the few original oligarchs who has survived the Putin purges.
Ivan Fursin A junior partner with Dmytro Firtash in RosUkrEnergo, the opaque intermediary that sold gas to the Ukrainian utility which supplies Ukrainian households.
Yegor Gaidar The acting prime minister during Yeltsin’s first year as president of Russia. One of the architects of Russian shock therapy.
Viktor Gerashchenko The head of the Soviet and then the Russian Central Bank.
Vladimir Gusinsky One of the early oligarchs who created Most Bank and Media-Most, which became Russia’s first private TV network. After his NTV network attacked Putin, he was arrested and eventually fled into exile.
Mikhael Gutseriev The founder of the oil company Russneft. He was forced to sell the company to Oleg Deripaska after the government issued a warrant for Gutseriev’s arrest.
Ferenc Gyurcsany The prime minister of Hungary who is torn between joining with Russia or non-Russian groups in building a gas pipeline which would originate in the Caspian and Black Seas and transit through Europe.
Tony Hayward The successor to Lord John Browne as CEO of BP.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky Another of the original oligarchs who created the Menatep Bank, which in turn gained ownership of Yukos. Khodorkovsky was subsequently arrested and sentenced to 8 years in jail and Yukos was seized by the state.
Sergei Kiriyenko The prime minister of Russia from March 1998 until the financial crash of August 1998. Subsequently Putin appointed him the chairman of the Federal Atomic Energy Agency.
Helmut Kohl Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998.
Alexander Korzhakov A KGB general who in 1985 became the head of presidential security when Boris Yeltsin was president. He was removed from office in 1996.
Konstantin Kosachëv Chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the Duma.
Alexei Kudrin Worked with Putin in the governor’s office in St. Petersburg and later accompanied Putin to Moscow to work in the central government. A technocrat, he eventually became the minister of finance.
Platon Lebedev A partner of Khodorkovsky in Menatep and Yukos who was also found guilty of tax evasion and sentenced to jail.
Alexander Litvinenko A former agent of the KGB who fled to London and was subsequently poisoned.
Andrei Lugovoi A former KGB agent who was accused of poisoning Litvinenko and who refused to return to London after he was elected to the Duma as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party.
Alexander Lukashenko The president of Belarus who some have described as the last dictator of Europe.
Igor Makarov A bicycle champion from Turkmenistan who founded ITERA, which started out as a trading company and at one point became the second largest producer of natural gas in Russia. Its headquarters are in Jacksonville, Florida.
Enrico Mattei CEO of the Italian energy company Eni.
Valentina Matviyenko The governor of St. Petersburg.
Alexander Medvedev Deputy Chairman of Gazprom.
Dmitry Medvedev Chairman of Gazprom and for a time Director of the Presidential Administration in the Kremlin and subsequently first deputy prime minister, who also worked with Putin in St. Petersburg when he was deputy governor.
Alexei Miller The CEO of Gazprom who worked with Putin when he was deputy governor of St. Petersburg.
Bruce Misamore Chief financial officer of Yukos, an American who previously worked for Marathon Oil in the United States.
Semion Mogilevich A shadowy figure accused by the FBI of criminal activity and being a mafia leader who is thought to be involved in the sale of gas to Ukraine.
Nursultan Nazarbayev The president of Kazakhstan.
Leonid Nevzlin A close friend and collaborator of Khodorkovsky who fled in exile to Israel before Khodorkovsky was arrested and Yukos was seized by the state.
Saparmurat Niyazov The leader of Turkmenistan until his death.
Ludwig and Robert Nobel Brothers who were among the first to develop Russia’s oil fields around Baku before World War I and the Revolution.
Nikolai Patrushev Head of the FSB, the successor to the KGB.
Vladimir Petukhov The mayor of an oil-rich city in Siberia where many Yukos operations were located. After complaining about Yukos’s failure to pay its taxes, he was found murdered.
Evgeny Primakov A former head of the KGB who was appointed prime minister in September 1998 after the financial collapse and who was removed in May 1999.
Lee Raymond CEO of Exxon-Mobil.
John D. Rockefeller One of the early developers of the oil industry in the United States and the founder of Standard Oil.
Leonid Roketsky The governor of the Tyumen region who at the same time was chairman of the Tyumen Oil Company.
Rothschild brothers International bankers and early investors and developers of oil production in the Baku region.
Mikhail Saakashvili The president of Georgia who earlier attended Columbia University in New York.
Gerhard Schroeder The chancellor of Germany who promoted the building of Nord Stream, a Russian-German pipeline, and then became the chairman of the board of directors.
Igor Sechin A former KGB agent who became deputy chairman of the Kremlin administration while simultaneously serving as chairman of the Board of Directors of Rosneft.
Igor Shuvalov An economic adviser to Putin.
Oleg Shvartsman A shadowy figure who runs the $36-billion Finansgroup Investment Fund. This fund is reputed to manage the assets of high-ranking government officials who have funneled government assets into their own accounts.
Alexander Smolensky An early oligarch who created the SBS/AGRO bank and with Berezovsky became an owner of Sibneft.
Anatoly Sobchak Putin’s professor in law school who became governor of St. Petersburg and appointed Putin as his deputy.