52 Facts About Ziyavudin Magomedov

Ziyavudin Gadzhievich Magomedov is a former Russian oligarch who amassed a business empire during presidency of Dmitry Medvedev, who stood in for Vladimir Putin from 2008 to 2012.

Ziyavudin Magomedov used his political ties to acquire assets in port logistics, transport and infrastructure, engineering, construction, telecommunications and technology, as well as oil and gas.

Ziyavudin Magomedov relied especially on his long and close friendship with Arkady Dvorkovich, who was a key economic advisor to President Dmitry Medvedev.

Ziyavudin Magomedov was closely connected to Vladimir Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov and Gennady Timchenko, Putin's close friend since the early 1990s and one of the richest oligarchs in Russia.

In 2022 Ziyavudin Magomedov was included in the list of bribe-takers and warmongers, aka the 6,000 List, compiled by the Anti-Corruption Foundation founded by Alexey Navalny.

Key Russian opposition activists and political prisoners Alexey Navalny and Mikhail Khodorkovsky have accused Ziyavudin Magomedov of paying multimillion-dollar bribes by renting or purchasing super-yachts for high-profile Russian officials, including Dmitry Peskov and Vladimir Putin himself.

In March 2018 Ziyavudin Magomedov was arrested in Russia along with his business partner, brother and Russian ex-senator, Magomed Magomedov.

Kremlin representatives claimed that Ziyavudin Magomedov's arrest was 'part of the Russian government's efforts to fight corruption'.

Ziyavudin Magomedov's defenders led by his cousin Ahmed Bilalov insisted that he was persecuted "under politically motivated circumstances".

Independent political analysts acknowledged that the specific charges of 'embezzlement of state funds' during the construction of a soccer World Cup venue in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad against Ziyavudin Magomedov were largely unfounded.

However, they believed that Ziyavudin Magomedov fell out of favor and gained several enemies among Vladimir Putin's closest and most powerful allies.

Ziyavudin Magomedov's arrest was associated with infighting among Russian elites and the crackdown against the so-called "Medvedev's clan", which gradually lost its power and influence after Dmitry Medvedev ceded the post of Russian President to Vladimir Putin in 2012.

Ziyavudin Magomedov was among several oligarchs and high-profile government officials generally linked to Medvedev's clan who were either arrested, removed from office, or fled the country between 2013 and 2019.

In December 2022 Ziyavudin Magomedov was sentenced to an unprecedented term of 19 years in prison.

In July 2023 Ziyavudin Magomedov filed a $13.8bn legal claim in London's High Court alleging a Kremlin-led conspiracy to seize his assets.

Ziyavudin Magomedov's father was a surgeon, his mother worked as a teacher.

In 1993 Ziyavudin Magomedov earned a bachelor's degree in international economics from Moscow State University.

Ziyavudin Magomedov became a close friend of Arkady Dvorkovich, who from 2008 to 2012 served as President Medvedev's right-hand man and was responsible for economic regulation.

In 2012, Dvorkovich became Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian government, overseeing the industries in which Ziyavudin Magomedov's company acquired assets.

Ziyavudin Magomedov earned a PhD in international economics in 2000 from Moscow State University.

Ziyavudin Magomedov expanded his business interests in the early 2000s, acquiring land in Primorsk, Leningrad Oblast on which the Primorsk Trade Port was built, with a significant stake owned by Ziyavudin Magomedov.

Ziyavudin Magomedov toiled on the margins of Russian business until Dmitry Medvedev became Vladimir Putin's place-holder president.

Ziyavudin Magomedov once studied in the same course at the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University together with Medvedev's longtime ally and assistant Arkady Dvorkovich.

Thanks to his connections with Medvedev's right-hand man, Ziyavudin Magomedov rapidly ascended in status.

In 2012 Mr Ziyavudin Magomedov was made chairman of the board of directors of PJSC NCSP.

Ziyavudin Magomedov turned out to be an atypical representative of modern Russian business, a realm with its implicit concepts, codes, and rules, the violation of which is a direct path either to emigration or to prison.

Transneft suspected that Ziyavudin Magomedov's company was siphoning money from NCSP.

When Ziyavudin Magomedov finally secured the right to operational management of the company, the leadership of Transneft suspected the partner of diverting part of the profits in favor of entities under his control.

Ziyavudin Magomedov was co-executive chairman of Virgin Hyperloop One prior to his arrest.

Mr Ziyavudin Magomedov later admitted to the Financial Times that he "liked talking to [Mr Peskov]", but denied paying for the yacht.

Magomed, the elder brother of Ziyavudin Magomedov, even assumed the role of league's president.

Additionally, Magomed Ziyavudin Magomedov held a position on the board of trustees for the Russian Geographical Society.

Ziyavudin Magomedov stated that he could influence the arrested person.

Many bankers and businessmen believe that, as with the 1990s oligarchs, Ziyavudin Magomedov's rise and Summa's positioning for the next slice of assets may be dependent on its proximity to power.

Ziyavudin Magomedov is another with an uncanny ability to deal with Russia's power tandem.

Ziyavudin Magomedov forged close ties with Nikolai Tokarev, the current head of Transneft and a Putin ally from his KGB days in Dresden.

Ziyavudin Magomedov maintains friendly relations with Dmitry Medvedev's press secretary, Natalia Timakova.

Magomed Ziyavudin Magomedov became president of the Night Hockey League, where Mr Putin plays for fun with top officials and oligarchs, after NMTP took it over in 2016.

The athletic Ziyavudin Magomedov quickly rose to become not just a player but, in the last years leading up to his arrest, the president of the executive board of the League.

Mr Ziyavudin Magomedov won a court judgment declaring the story false on a technicality, after claiming that Mr Navalny's blog, which is one of Russia's most popular websites, was anonymous.

In 2016 Ziyavudin Magomedov bought MMA promotion Fight Nights Global and created the commercial company Eagles MMA for sponsoring MMA fighters.

In 2007, Ziyavudin Magomedov joined the Board of Trustees of the Bolshoi Theatre, with the Theatre reopening in autumn 2011.

Ziyavudin Magomedov founded and financed the PERI Foundation which supports conservation and cultural heritage projects inside and outside of Russia.

Mr Ziyavudin Magomedov's Foundation has funded a programme to develop IT and computing skills among young people in Dagestan and donated to dozens of orphanages and schools in the region.

Ziyavudin Magomedov was stripped of these awards following his arrest.

On 31 March 2018, while preparing to flee to the United States, Ziyavudin Magomedov was arrested and charged with "racketeering and embezzlement of state funds" by Russia's Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Ziyavudin Magomedov denies the charges, but a Moscow court ruled on 31 March 2018 that he would remain in pre-trial custody, without bail, until 30 May 2018.

Ziyavudin Magomedov remained in pre-trial custody until December 2022, when he and his brother were sentenced to 19 and 18 years in prison respectively.

In February 2024, reports suggested that Ziyavudin Magomedov had been "transferred to a penal colony in Kirov".

Ziyavudin Magomedov alleges that US private equity firm TPG and Dubai-based ports operator DP World participated in the conspiracy.

Ziyavudin Magomedov's imprisonment is believed to be part of an attempt by the Russian state to seize assets under his control, handing them to state entities such as Rosatom or Kremlin-affiliated businessmen such as Mikhail Rabinovich.

Ziyavudin Magomedov is married, with three children, and lived in Moscow prior to his arrest.