Petr Aven

Petr Olegovich Aven
Petr Olegovich Aven
Born	March 16, 1955 (age 71); Moscow, Soviet Union
Other names	Pyotr Aven
Occupation(s)	Oligarch, economist, politician
Years active	1980s–present
Known for	Head of Alfa-Bank until 2022; Russian oligarch; author
Notable work	Gaidar's Revolution: The Inside Account of the Economic Transformation of Russia, The Age of Berezovsky

Petr Olegovich Aven (also spelled Pyotr Aven; ; ; born 16 March 1955) is a Russian oligarch, economist, and politician who holds Latvian citizenship. Up until March 2022, he served as the head of Alfa-Bank, the largest commercial bank in Russia. To shield these entities from sanctions, he stepped down from the boards of Alfa-Bank and LetterOne Group in March 2022. In 2023, Aven was ranked as the 659th wealthiest individual worldwide, with an estimated net worth of approximately $4.2 billion.

Aven is considered part of Russian President Vladimir Putin's close circle and has maintained regular meetings with Putin, including subsequent to Russia’s military actions in Ukraine. He is designated among Russian oligarchs under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he was also subjected to EU sanctions. Aven condemned these measures as "spurious and unfounded" and initiated legal proceedings before the European Court of Justice.

Early life and education

Born in Moscow, Aven’s father was of Latvian-Russian heritage while his mother descended from a Jewish family. His paternal grandfather served as a Latvian rifleman. He attended Moscow Physics and Mathematics School №2 before graduating from Moscow State University in 1977. He earned his PhD in economics by 1980.

Career

Following his university education, Aven held a position as a senior researcher at the All-Union Research Institute for Systems Studies under the USSR Academy of Sciences. Between 1989 and 1991, he worked at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis located in Austria.

During the early 1990s, Aven played an advisory role in Russia’s economic reforms, concentrating on ruble convertibility and managing foreign debt under President Boris Yeltsin. He was appointed Minister of Foreign Economic Relations from 1991 to 1992, representing Russia at G7 summits and leading trade delegations. After departing government service in 1992, he advised JSC LogoVAZ president Boris Berezovsky until 1993, affiliated himself with Russia's Choice political movement, and stood as a candidate for the State Duma.

In 1994, Aven became part of Alfa Group, acquiring shares in Alfa-Bank and joining its supervisory board. He served as president of Alfa-Bank Russia until June 2011 and currently chairs the board of ABH Holdings S.A. Additionally, he leads the board of AlfaStrakhovanie Group and co-chairs CTC Media’s board. In 2012, together with partners Viktor Vekselberg and Leonard Blavatnik, Alfa Group sold their combined 50% stake in TNK-BP to Rosneft for $28 billion.

Aven joined LetterOne Group’s board in 2013—an international investment company established by Mikhail Fridman that focuses on telecommunications, technology, and energy sectors across 32 countries. LetterOne purchased German utility E.ON’s Norwegian oil and gas assets for $1.6 billion in 2015 and sought to expand into Brazil’s mobile telecommunications market.

In 2015, Aven co-wrote Gaidar's Revolution: The Inside Account of the Economic Transformation of Russia with Alfred Kokh, offering insights into Russian economic reforms led by Yegor Gaidar. The Financial Times described it as an enlightening examination of reformers who revitalized Russia’s post-Soviet economy.

In 2017, Aven released The Age of Berezovsky, a biography chronicling oligarch Boris Berezovsky based on extensive interviews with key individuals including Mikhail Fridman. He emphasized his long-standing relationship with Berezovsky dating back to 1978, underscoring their personal bond during pivotal moments in Berezovsky’s life.

Sanctions

On 28 February 2022, the European Union placed Petr Aven on its sanctions list, resulting in the freezing of all his assets due to his connection with the 2022 Russian military actions in Ukraine.

Subsequently, on 9 April 2022, the French Ministry of Culture confiscated Aven's artwork "Sarkkipotrait" (1910) by Pyotr Konchalovsky. This piece, originally part of the Morozov brothers' collection displayed at Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, was seized as part of the sanctions imposed related to the invasion.

Aven has been subject to a UK inquiry concerning potential evasion of sanctions, involving a £3 million transfer from Austria in February 2022. In May 2022, the National Crime Agency (NCA) conducted a search of his residence. Nonetheless, by July 2022, a court permitted the partial unfreezing of some accounts to cover expenses for Aven’s property in London. By October 2022, the UK Treasury authorized monthly living allowances of £60,000 and a one-time payment of £388,000 to address immediate debts. These decisions drew criticism from advocates supporting sanctions enforcement. Aven argued that these funds were essential for meeting basic living requirements for himself and his family. The UK government included him on its sanctions list in 2022 in relation to the Russo-Ukrainian conflict.

In April 2024, an EU court revoked sanctions imposed on Aven and his business associate Mikhail Fridman, citing a lack of sufficient evidence.

By May 2024, the NCA petitioned a UK court to permanently confiscate £1.1 million held by Aven, labeling these funds as "proceeds of crime."

Libel suits

In 2005, a libel lawsuit filed in 2000 by Aven and fellow Alfa-Bank co-owner Mikhail Fridman against the Center for Public Integrity was dismissed by a United States district court in Washington, D.C. The suit concerned an online article alleging involvement in drug trafficking and organized crime. The federal judge found no proof of actual malice and ruled that Fridman and Aven were limited public figures concerning corruption issues in post-Soviet Russia.

In May 2017, Aven together with Alfa-Bank proprietors Mikhail Fridman and German Khan initiated a defamation action against BuzzFeed following publication of the unverified Steele dossier, which claimed financial connections and collusion among Putin, Trump, and the three bankers.

Later in October 2017, the same group sued opposition research firm Fusion GPS and its founder Glenn Simpson for disseminating and permitting publication of the dossier. In May 2018, after a meeting with Kremlin officials, it was stated that Aven, Fridman, and Khan did not represent either Putin or the Russian government. In April 2018, they filed another libel claim against Steele in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia; this case was dismissed with prejudice in August.

Following Fusion GPS’s motion to dismiss in March 2022, the plaintiffs consented to drop their lawsuit.

Together with Fridman and Khan, Aven pursued defamation proceedings in the United Kingdom against Orbis Business Intelligence, Steele’s company. In July 2020, Justice Warby of the Queen's Bench Division ordered Steele to compensate Aven and Fridman for false allegations that they had delivered illicit cash to Putin during his tenure as deputy mayor of St. Petersburg. The judge characterized these accusations as "demonstrably false" and highlighted inaccuracies regarding their supposed foreign policy counsel to Putin, awarding damages for harm caused to reputation and emotional distress.

Public Engagements

Petr Aven occupies multiple prominent public positions, including serving on the board of trustees for the Endowment Foundation at the New Economic School. He is also a trustee for the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) in Great Britain, the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, and the National Association for National Financial Reporting Standards. Furthermore, he participates on the council of trustees for the Russian Olympians Foundation and holds a professorship at the State University Higher School of Economics. Aven is additionally affiliated with Yale University as a member of its President's Council on International Activities and is part of the Presidium of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC).

Beginning in April 2006, Aven joined the board of directors for the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, and in 2007 he assumed the chairmanship of the Russia-Latvian Business Council.

His international academic contributions include lectures delivered at institutions such as Yale University, Bar-Ilan University in Israel, and the University of Glasgow. Aven has authored publications on econometrics and economic reform, with his monographs published by Yale University Press and the Kiel Institute of World Economics.

Among his accolades, he was recognized as Russia’s top manager in the financial services sector in 2004 by Institutional Investor.

Aven actively promotes Russian arts and culture. Together with Stan Polovets, Mikhail Fridman, Alexander Knaster, and German Khan, he co-founded the Genesis Philanthropy Group, an organization dedicated to strengthening Jewish identity among Russian-speaking Jews globally. In 2008, he and Elena Aven launched the "Generation" charity foundation, which supports children's healthcare initiatives, cultural cooperation between Latvia and Russia, and academic scholarships. Since 2012, this foundation has been a benefactor to Latvia’s Madona Hospital, including financing one of the nation’s earliest baby boxes.

As a passionate art collector focusing on pre-Soviet Russian works, Aven has loaned pieces to various institutions such as Moscow’s Jewish Museum, London's Tate Gallery, New York’s Museum of Modern Art, and the Royal Academy. His collection was showcased in 2015 at New York’s Neue Galerie in an exhibition emphasizing early twentieth-century Russian-German artistic connections. He has publicly condemned counterfeit Russian avant-garde artworks.

On 3 November 2015, Aven was honored with the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship in recognition of his efforts to enhance U.S.-Russia relations and for co-founding the Alfa Fellowship Program—a leadership development initiative offering professional experience across private, governmental, and non-profit sectors worldwide.

In 2021, he acquired a property in central Riga intended to house a museum for his art collection. Additionally, he is a trustee of the UK Royal Academy of Arts Development Trust.

In 2013, Aven received an honorary doctorate from the University of Latvia in acknowledgment of his contributions to Latvia’s development and fostering cooperation with Russia; however, this honor was unanimously withdrawn in 2022 due to his support for Vladimir Putin amid the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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