Igor Makarov: Itera Founder and His Sanctions Fight With Canada

Sanctions status — checked 4 August 2026

Not found on the OFAC SDN, UK OFSI or EU consolidated lists.

Absence from these three lists does not mean no restrictions apply elsewhere. 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 Igor Makarov’s net worth at $2.3 billion as of 8 August 2026 (Forbes profile). Older figures further down this page date from 2022 and are kept only where they are explicitly tied to a year. Estimates are revised continuously and Forbes and Bloomberg frequently disagree.

Igor Makarov is a former Soviet racing cyclist who founded the gas trading company Itera in 1992 and later built up the energy company ARETI International Group. He sold Itera’s Russian gas production business to Rosneft in 2012 and 2013 and gave up his Russian citizenship in 2023. The United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand sanctioned him in 2022 and have since lifted those sanctions. Canada has kept him on its list, and he is suing Canada before an international arbitration tribunal.

Born: 5 April 1962 in Turkmenistan, then part of the Soviet Union (UK sanctions notice)
Citizenship: Cyprus and Moldova (ICSID); Russian citizenship renounced in 2023 (Forbes)
Known for: founder of Itera and of ARETI International Group, president of the Russian Cycling Federation from 2010 to 2016
Sanctions as of October 2026: listed in Canada; removed in the UK (2024), Australia (2025) and New Zealand (2025); never listed in the United States or the European Union

Early life and cycling career

Makarov was born in the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic. The British sanctions notice gives his date of birth as 5 April 1962, and the Russian business daily Vedomosti describes him as a native of Ashgabat, the capital. According to Forbes, he studied at Turkmen State University. He was a member of the USSR national cycling team (Global News).

Vedomosti reported in 2013 that Makarov left the sport for business at the age of 25. In 1987 he set up a cooperative that made clothing and souvenirs, and he soon moved into trading.

Itera: from Jacksonville to Turkmen gas

Makarov founded Itera in 1992 in Jacksonville, Florida, together with several partners (Florida Trend, News4JAX). In the 1990s the company became a leading gas supplier to the former Soviet republics. The Moscow Times attributed this to its ties with Turkmenistan and to Makarov’s friendship with Rem Vyakhirev, then head of Gazprom. Vedomosti reported that in 1995 Vyakhirev agreed that Gazprom would trade Turkmen gas through Itera. Forbes describes Itera in the late 1990s as Russia’s main exporter of gas from Turkmenistan.

Itera’s position weakened after Alexey Miller took over Gazprom in 2001. According to Vedomosti, Itera had to sell its controlling stakes in the gas producers Purgaz and Sibneftegaz to Gazprom and Gazprombank and lost its access to the markets of the former Soviet republics.

In August 2012, Rosneft and Itera set up a joint venture based on ITERA Oil and Gas Company, in which Rosneft held 51 percent (Rosneft). On 2 July 2013, Rosneft bought the remaining 49 percent from Itera Holdings Limited for $2.9 billion (Rosneft). Makarov later told the Associated Press that government officials had forced him to sell at a bargain price and that he has not done business in Russia since 2013. That account has not been independently confirmed.

After the sale, Makarov built up ARETI International Group (Interfax). According to the US Geological Survey, Itera was rebranded as ARETI in 2015, and ARETI took over most of Itera’s projects in Turkmenistan. In its notice of 5 March 2024, the UK government refers to the company as Reywood Holdings Limited, formerly ARETI International Group. Forbes reports that he was appointed energy adviser to the president of Turkmenistan in 2019. Makarov was also once a major shareholder in Spartan Delta Corp., an energy company based in Calgary, Canada (Global News). That stake is at the centre of his dispute with Canada.

Cycling official and team owner

Makarov was elected president of the Russian Cycling Federation in June 2010 (Championat). He led it until December 2016, when Vyacheslav Ekimov was elected his successor and Makarov became honorary president (Kommersant).

He joined the Management Committee of the UCI, cycling’s world governing body, in 2011 (Cyclingnews), and the UCI Congress elected him again in 2021 (UCI). He is not on the committee that the UCI Congress elected in Kigali on 25 September 2025 (UCI). Makarov also founded the professional team Katusha (Cyclingnews), which started out under the patronage of Itera (Championat).

Sanctions: lifted in three countries, still in force in Canada

Country	Listed	Status in October 2026
Canada	19 April 2022, listed again on 4 August 2023	Listed (regulations current to 21 September 2026)
Australia	April 2022	Removed, reported on 22 May 2025
United Kingdom	26 September 2022	Removed on 5 March 2024
New Zealand	12 October 2022	Removed on 12 September 2025
United States	Never listed	Not on the OFAC SDN list
European Union	Never listed	Not on the EU consolidated list

The United Kingdom designated Makarov on 26 September 2022 because of his role as president and owner of ARETI International Group, which it described as “an entity operating in the Russian energy sector” (UK notice of 26 September 2022). According to the notice of 5 March 2024, his entry “has been removed from the Consolidated List and is no longer subject to an asset freeze or trust services sanctions”. The notice gives no reason.

Australia sanctioned him in April 2022 (News4JAX) and removed him from its Russia list in May 2025 (Global Sanctions, ABC News). New Zealand listed him on 12 October 2022, as an archived copy of its sanctions register shows, and removed the entry on 12 September 2025 (New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade).

Canada first listed Makarov on 19 April 2022 (Canada Gazette). After he renounced his Russian citizenship, Canada extended its Russia sanctions to former Russian nationals and listed him again on 4 August 2023 (Canada Gazette, Global News). In its explanatory statement, the Canadian government says that he “benefited from close associations with top government officials while brokering non-transparent Russian-Turkmen energy deals”. Makarov denies being close to the Russian regime. In a statement submitted to the Canadian government he wrote: “I want it to be made clear that I strongly oppose the Russian regime and its invasion of Ukraine” (Global News).

Makarov is not on the US Treasury’s list of Specially Designated Nationals or on the EU’s consolidated sanctions list (both checked on 5 October 2026). In January 2018 the US Treasury included him in an unclassified list of Russian oligarchs in a report to Congress under Section 241 of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. The report states: “It is not a sanctions list”.

The legal fight with Canada

Canada’s then foreign minister, Mélanie Joly, refused his request to be removed from the list on 20 October 2023 (Global News). The Federal Court dismissed his challenge on 9 August 2024 (Global News). The Federal Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal in a decision dated 9 December 2025 (National Post).

On 14 January 2026, Makarov filed a request for arbitration with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) under the investment treaty between Canada and Moldova. According to Global Affairs Canada, he argues that his listing and Canada’s handling of his delisting applications denied him the value of his shareholding in Spartan Delta, and he seeks at least CA$350 million in damages. ICSID registered the case on 30 January 2026 as ARB/26/6. No decision had been published by October 2026.

Citizenship

Makarov renounced his Russian citizenship in 2023 (Forbes, Interfax). A Canadian government report cited by Global News says he then used a Cypriot nationality that he had acquired more than a decade earlier through an investment-for-passports programme. In the ICSID case he is listed as a citizen of Cyprus and Moldova.

About this profile

This profile was rewritten in October 2026. An earlier version from 2022 contained statements about Makarov’s political ties, career and private life for which we found no source. They have been removed. The net worth figure in the box at the top of this page comes from Forbes and carries its date.