On Tuesday, Moscow’s Meshchansky District Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian-Israeli Oleg Kiselev, who between 2008 and 2019 was vice president of Rusnano, the Russian state-owned nanotechnology company.
Kiselev, who is not in Russia, is accused of “particularly large-scale embezzlement,” for which Russia has issued an international arrest warrant with Interpol. According to MP Alexander Khinshtein, Kiselev and several other former Rusnano executives are accused of embezzling a total of 1.676 billion rubles between 2012 and 2015, via a Cypriot fund and the Moscow-based Peresvet Bank. However, as with other cases linked to the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the case raises many questions.
The investigation into Kiselev began after Rusnano chief Anatoly Chubais, a close friend of Putin, fled Russia after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Kiselev was his deputy. When Chubais fled, the regime launched a full-scale investigation against him and other former Rusnano senior executives for alleged embezzlement. In addition to Kiselev, an arrest warrant was also issued for the former CEO of Rusnano Capital, a subsidiary of Rusnano, Irina Rappoport.
Another question about this case arises from the statements of President Putin himself. In September 2023, at an economic forum, he called Chubais “Moshe Israelevich,” accusing him of corruption at Rusnano. “Why is Anatoly Borisovich (Chubays’ full Russian name is Anatoly Borisovich Chubais) hiding there?” Putin asked, commenting on Chubais’ move to Israel: “I was shown a photo in which he was no longer Anatoly Borisovich, but Moshe Israelevich.”
Kiselev (71), who was active for many years in the Russian Jewish Congress, held several important positions in Russia, and not only at Rusnano. He was chairman of Alfa Bank and Impex Bank, then joined the mining and metallurgical giant Metalloinvest as chairman, and then the investment bank Renaissance Capital as chairman. He donated to Keren Hayesod-United Israel Appeal and the Jewish academic organization Hillel.
Published by Globes, Israeli business news – fr.globes.co.il – August 29, 2024.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.
