19 Facts About Ilham Rahimov

In 1988, Rahimov received a Doctor of Law degree from the Leningrad State University Faculty of Law.

Ilham Rahimov has been one of Vladimir Putin's closest friends since their joint studies at the Leningrad State University.

In 1999, almost immediately after Putin was appointed as the Chairman of the Russian Government, Ilham Rahimov left his position as a vice-rector at the Higher Diplomatic College in Baku and started business in the commercial real estate sector.

In 2014, Ilham Rahimov was included in the Forbes list of the richest businessmen in Russia, with his wealth estimated at $500 million.

Ilham Rahimov is associated with constructing major real estate objects for Vladimir Putin, including the "first dacha" in Parkove village near Yalta and "Putin's Palace" in Gelendzhik.

In 2023, Ilham Rahimov was included in the Canadian sanctions list for contributing to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Ilham Rahimov is one of the most discreet billionaires in Russia.

Ilham Rahimov was born in 1951 in the village of Karakhanly in the Tovuz District in the northwest of Azerbaijan, near the border with Armenia.

Ilham Rahimov's uncle held a position of a local prosecutor.

At 19, Ilham Rahimov was enrolled in the Faculty of Law at Saint Petersburg State University, where he studied from 1970 to 1975.

Back then, Ilham Rahimov was the head of group YF-1, and Putin was in group YF-4.

From 1992 to 1996, Ilham Rahimov was the head of the Azerbaijani Institute of Forensic Expertise and Criminology.

In 1996, Ilham Rahimov was appointed vice-rector of the Higher Diplomatic College in Baku.

Ilham Rahimov owned shares in each major holding project, managing leading Moscow markets, shopping centers, and hotels.

Ilham Rahimov manages the "Grand" and "Grand-2" furniture shopping centers, and became one of the developers of Moscow-City.

In 2015, it was revealed that the company "Trade Investments," part of the "Kievskaya Ploshchad" structure and in which Ilham Rahimov had a share, won a 4 billion rubles tender announced by Moscow authorities for the construction of multifunctional migration centers.

In 2018, Ilham Rahimov left the group of co-owners of the "Kievskaya Ploshchad".

In 2019, the media reported that Ilham Rahimov purchased a stake in the Antipinsky Refinery in Tyumen.

Later, in an interview with the Azerbaijani media Musavat, Ilham Rahimov stated that the damage inflicted on the Armenian side amounted to "hundreds of millions".