Arkady Rotenberg: Putin’s Judo Partner, the Kerch Bridge and the Sanctions

/ Oligarch Profiles / By
Palace with gilded domes and a Russian flag

Photo: IgorShubin, Pixabay Content License, via Pixabay

Sanctions status — checked 18 October 2026

Listed by: US (OFAC SDN) · UK (OFSI) · EU

This person appears on the sanctions lists named above. Other countries are covered in the sanctions section below. Date of birth used for identification: 1951-12-15. Checked against the OFAC SDN list, the UK OFSI consolidated list and the EU consolidated list. Sanctions lists change without notice — verify against the primary source before relying on this.

Current figure: Forbes puts Arkady Rotenberg’s net worth at $5.3 billion as of 18 October 2026 (Forbes profile). Estimates are revised continuously and Forbes and Bloomberg frequently disagree.

Arkady Rotenberg is a former judo coach who trained in the same Leningrad judo group as Vladimir Putin in the 1960s and became a major contractor for the Russian state. His company Stroygazmontazh (SGM) built pipelines for Gazprom and the bridge across the Kerch Strait to annexed Crimea, and he co-owned the SMP Bank with his brother Boris until 2022. The United States sanctioned him in March 2014, among the first Russian businessmen to be listed after the annexation of Crimea. Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Ukraine have also listed him.

  • Born: 15 December 1951 in Leningrad, today St Petersburg (US Treasury, Business FM)
  • Education: Lesgaft Institute of Physical Culture, Leningrad
  • Known for: founder and former owner of SGM, builder of the Kerch bridge; former co-owner of SMP Bank; Mostotrest
  • Sanctions as of October 2026: United States (since March 2014), Canada (since April 2014), Australia (since June 2014), European Union (since 2014, with a gap), United Kingdom, New Zealand (since April 2022), Ukraine (since October 2022)

Judo and the friendship with Putin

Rotenberg began wrestling, first sambo and then judo, in 1964 under the coach Anatoly Rakhlin in Leningrad (Business FM). According to Rakhlin’s obituary, published with information from the Russian Judo Federation, Rakhlin’s first group of boys that year included Arkady Rotenberg and Vladimir Putin (Sport-Express). Rotenberg graduated from the Lesgaft Institute of Physical Culture in Leningrad and worked for more than 15 years as a judo and sambo coach in Leningrad sports clubs (Forbes, Business FM).

Forbes describes him as “a friend of President Vladimir Putin” who “was once his judo sparring partner” (Forbes, 2026). The Moscow Times and the BBC have described him in the same way (The Moscow Times, 2012, NPR, citing the BBC). The sanctioning governments rely on the same relationship. The European Union calls him “a leading businessperson operating in Russia with close personal ties to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin” (Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/1765), and the United Kingdom says he “has close personal ties to President Putin” (UK sanctions list). In a 2012 interview with the Financial Times, Rotenberg denied that the friendship explained his business success: “You can’t just go to him and ask for something” (The Moscow Times, citing the FT).

SGM and the Kerch bridge

Rotenberg created Stroygazmontazh in 2008 from five construction companies bought from Gazprom subsidiaries (Meduza, citing Interfax, Australian sanctions list, reference 2933). By 2010 its projects for Gazprom included the Russian section of the Nord Stream pipeline (The Moscow Times, citing Vedomosti). In March 2014 the US Treasury wrote that the Rotenberg brothers had received about 7 billion dollars in contracts for the Sochi Olympic Games (US Treasury).

On 30 January 2015 Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed an order naming SGM general contractor for the bridge across the Kerch Strait between Russia and Crimea, at a maximum cost of 228.3 billion roubles from the federal budget (Delovoy Peterburg, Council of the EU). In January 2017 SGM was also awarded the contract for the railway line on the bridge (Council of the EU). The road section opened on 15 May 2018, and trains followed in December 2019 and June 2020 (AP via CBS News, Mostotrest). In March 2020 Putin awarded Rotenberg the title Hero of Labour for his work on the construction of the Crimean Bridge (Lenta.ru, Meduza).

In November 2019 Rotenberg sold SGM. His representative confirmed the sale to Interfax but did not name the buyer (Interfax). According to RBC, Kommersant and Forbes, the buyer was a Gazprom subsidiary (Meduza, citing RBC, Kommersant, Forbes).

Mostotrest, SMP Bank and other holdings

Mostotrest was founded in 1930 as a Soviet bridge-building trust and floated on the stock market in November 2010 (Mostotrest). Rotenberg became a co-owner around 2010, and in 2012 he held 26 percent (Business FM, The Moscow Times). Sources differ on who owns it today. The UK and EU sanctions lists describe Mostotrest as belonging to him (UK sanctions list), and the US Treasury called him its owner in 2021 (US Treasury). Forbes writes that in 2019 he agreed to transfer his shares to a joint venture with the state-owned bank VEB (Forbes).

SMP Bank: Rotenberg was a co-owner of the bank from 2001, and his brother Boris later also acquired a stake (Business FM). In December 2022 the state-owned Promsvyazbank bought SMP Bank from the two brothers (Prime, Novaya Gazeta Europe).

Prosveshcheniye: Rotenberg became chairman of the board of the school textbook publisher in 2013 and sold his stake of about 20 percent in 2017 (The Moscow Times, The Insider). The British government records that he chaired the board until 2017 (OFSI notice of 16 September 2022).

The palace near Gelendzhik: In January 2021 Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation accused Putin of owning a palace on the Black Sea coast near Gelendzhik. On 25 January 2021 Putin said that the palace did not belong to him or his family (TimesLIVE, wire report). On 30 January 2021 Rotenberg told the Telegram channel Mash: “It’s no secret now: I’m the beneficiary.” (Meduza, Mediazona, The Moscow Times). The EU’s statement of reasons records this claim (Council of the EU).

Sanctions

CountryListedStatus in October 2026
United States20 March 2014Listed (OFAC SDN list)
Canada28 April 2014Listed (Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations)
Australia19 June 2014Listed (Australian consolidated list); listed afresh under the Russia criteria in June 2023
European Union30 July 2014; again from 15 March 2015Listed; the listing for July 2014 to March 2015 was annulled by the General Court
United Kingdom31 July 2014 (under EU rules); new UK entry 16 September 2022Listed (UK sanctions list, RUS1552)
New Zealand5 April 2022Listed (Russia Sanctions Register)
Ukraine19 October 2022Listed for ten years (Decree 727/2022)

The US Treasury designated Arkady and Boris Rotenberg on 20 March 2014 for acting for or on behalf of or materially assisting a senior Russian official. The press release grouped them with Gennady Timchenko and Yuri Kovalchuk as members of the Russian leadership’s “inner circle”. It said the brothers had “amassed enormous amounts of wealth during the years of Putin’s rule” (US Treasury, jl23331). On 3 March 2022 the United States added his daughter Liliya and his son Pavel (OFAC). Canada listed him on 28 April 2014. Australia listed him on 19 June 2014 and described him as a “close financial associate of President Putin”. Australia declared the listing to continue in 2017 and 2020 and in June 2023 listed him afresh under its Russia criteria; its consolidated list of 16 October 2026 still includes him (Ukraine List 2014, Amendment List 2017, Continuing Effect Declaration 2020 (No 1), Amendment (No. 7) Instrument 2023, Australian Sanctions Consolidated List, 16 October 2026).

The EU first listed him on 30 July 2014, calling him “a long-time acquaintance of President Putin and his former judo sparring partner” and citing a supposed majority stake in the design institute Giprotransmost. In case T-720/14, the EU General Court annulled that listing on 30 November 2016 for the period from July 2014 to March 2015. It found that the Council “does not even attempt to show that it had evidence” of the Giprotransmost stake. The court upheld the measures from March 2015, which relied on SGM’s contract for the Kerch bridge (General Court, T-720/14, press release 131/16, Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/427). In 2017 the Council dropped the reference to judo and has since spoken of “close personal ties” to Putin (Interfax, Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/1765).

The United Kingdom originally listed him on 31 July 2014 under the EU regime. On 16 September 2022 it replaced that entry with a new designation, which cites the construction of the Kerch bridge and its railway line by SGM, his former company (OFSI notice of 16 September 2022). The UK added transport sanctions on 17 July 2023 and a director disqualification sanction on 9 April 2025 (UK sanctions list). New Zealand listed him on 5 April 2022 (New Zealand sanctions register). On 19 October 2022 Ukraine imposed sanctions on him for ten years, including asset blocking, together with his brother Boris and his son Igor (Annex to Decree 727/2022). Poland does not list him.

The sanctions also reached his companies and family. SGM, its subsidiary SGM-Most and Mostotrest are sanctioned by the United States, the European Union and Canada, and the United Kingdom lists Mostotrest and SGM-Most (US Treasury, 2016, US Treasury, 2021, UK sanctions list). His sons Igor and Pavel and his daughter Liliya are listed by the United States and the United Kingdom, and Igor also by the EU and Ukraine (OFAC, UK sanctions list). In September 2014 Italian financial police froze assets worth about 30 million euros attributed to him, including three villas in Sardinia and a hotel in Rome. Rotenberg called the freeze “illegitimate” and “absurd” (ANSA, The Irish Times). We found no report on how that case ended.

We checked the US, UK, Canadian and Polish lists on 10 October 2026, Australia’s consolidated list as of 16 October 2026 and the EU list as of 22 September 2026, including the EU’s amending acts of that day. We found no record of a criminal case against Arkady Rotenberg.

About this profile

This profile was rewritten in October 2026. The 2022 version called Rotenberg a former business partner of Putin and said he “has the Russian president’s ear on a regular basis”. We found no source for either claim. It also said he and his “brother Igor” founded Mostotrest in the early 1990s, that he sat in the Russian parliament from 2001 to 2003, and that he owned stakes in Sberbank, VTB and A.C. Milan. In fact Igor is his son and Mostotrest dates from 1930, and we found no source for the parliamentary seat or those stakes. Nor did we find any for recent contracts in Iraq and Turkey or a stake in a Chinese energy company. The old version named the European Parliament and a “Canadian Controlled Goods Program” as sources of sanctions; the EU measures are imposed by the Council, and Canada lists him under its Special Economic Measures regulations. Private details about marriages and the children’s professions have been removed. The net worth figure in the box at the top of this page comes from Forbes and carries its date.

Sources

Articles You Might Enjoy Reading

Boris Rotenberg

The Relationship Between Russian Oligarchs And Putin

Who Are The Russian Oligarchs Sanctioned?