Sergey Chemezov: Rostec Chief, Putin’s Dresden Acquaintance and the Sanctions

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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: 1952-08-20. 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.

No published estimate: Forbes does not list Sergey Chemezov among its billionaires and publishes no net worth figure for him.

Sergey Chemezov has been chief executive of Rostec, Russia’s state corporation for defence and industrial technology, since it was created in 2007. He met Vladimir Putin in Dresden in the 1980s, when both were stationed in East Germany, and the US Treasury has called him a “trusted ally” of the president. Before Rostec he ran the state arms exporter Rosoboronexport. The United States, the European Union, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ukraine and Australia have sanctioned him, along with several members of his family.

  • Born: 20 August 1952 in Cheremkhovo, Irkutsk region (US Treasury, 2014, Vedomosti)
  • Education: Irkutsk Institute of National Economy (1975), higher courses at the Military Academy of the General Staff
  • Known for: head of Rosoboronexport (2004–2007), chief executive of Rostec (since 2007), member of the bureau of United Russia’s Supreme Council (since 2006)
  • Sanctions as of October 2026: United States (since 28 April 2014), European Union (since 12 September 2014), Canada (since 17 February 2015), United Kingdom (listed 31 December 2020), Ukraine (since June 2021), Australia (since March 2022)

Early life and Dresden

Chemezov was born on 20 August 1952 in Cheremkhovo, a town in the Irkutsk region of Siberia. His family moved to Irkutsk in the early 1960s (Vedomosti, OCCRP, 8 October 2021). In 1975 he graduated with distinction from the Irkutsk Institute of National Economy, now Baikal State University, as a mining engineer and economist. He later completed higher courses at the Military Academy of the General Staff and holds a doctorate in economics (Vedomosti, FARA filing by his US lawyers, 2025).

From 1975 to 1980 he worked at Irgiredmet, a research institute for rare and non-ferrous metals in Irkutsk. According to Vedomosti, he was then taken into the state security service and in 1980 moved to Luch, a Soviet industrial association. From 1983 to 1988 he headed Luch’s office in East Germany while serving with the KGB (Vedomosti). The Guardian and The Moscow Times describe him as a former KGB officer (The Guardian, 4 March 2022, The Moscow Times, 24 June 2025).

In Dresden he met Vladimir Putin, who was posted there by Soviet foreign intelligence from 1985 to 1990 (Vedomosti, 2 October 2019). “We lived in one building, and were both work colleagues and neighbors,” Chemezov recalled, as quoted by The Bell (The Bell, 5 October 2019). The Guardian, OCCRP and RFE/RL also date their friendship to the time they lived in the same apartment building, and Meduza traces it back to their Dresden days (The Guardian, OCCRP, Meduza, 1 April 2023, RFE/RL, 1 August 2025). In 2014 the US Treasury wrote: “Chemezov is a trusted ally of President Putin, whom he has known since the 1980s when they lived in the same apartment complex in East Germany” (US Treasury, 28 April 2014).

Kremlin property office, arms exports and Rostec

After returning to the Soviet Union, Chemezov was deputy general director of the foreign trade association Sovintersport from 1988 to 1996. From 1996 to 1999 he headed the foreign economic relations department of the Presidential Property Management Directorate, where Putin was deputy head at the time (Vedomosti). From September 1999 to November 2000 he ran the state company Promexport. After it merged with Rosvooruzheniye to form Rosoboronexport, he became first deputy head of the new company, and in April 2004 its general director (Heroes of the Country database, Vedomosti).

On 26 November 2007 a presidential decree appointed him general director of Rostekhnologii, the state corporation now called Rostec, which had been created by a federal law three days earlier (US Treasury, 2014, Vedomosti). Rostec controls United Aircraft Corporation, Russian Helicopters, United Engine Corporation, Uralvagonzavod, KAMAZ and the arms maker Kalashnikov. According to Vedomosti, Rostec companies increased their output of weapons and military equipment after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 (Vedomosti, The Bell). He still heads the corporation. On 7 May 2026 he reported to Putin on Rostec’s results for 2025 (Kremlin, 7 May 2026). He has chaired the board of KAMAZ since July 2021 (Vedomosti).

Chemezov has been a member of the bureau of the Supreme Council of the ruling party United Russia since 2006 (Vedomosti, Heroes of the Country database). In 2019 Putin made him a Hero of the Russian Federation, the country’s highest title, by a decree that was not published (Vedomosti, 2 October 2019, Kommersant, 2 October 2019, The Bell). He has chaired the board of trustees of the Russian Cycling Federation since 2007 (Russian Cycling Federation, Kommersant, 14 September 2007).

Sanctions

CountryListedStatus in October 2026
United States28 April 2014Listed (OFAC SDN list, Ukraine-related and, since 3 March 2022, Russia-related programme)
European Union12 September 2014Listed; the measures run until 22 September 2029
Canada17 February 2015Listed (Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations, item 79)
United Kingdom31 December 2020Listed (UK sanctions list, RUS0088): asset freeze, travel ban, trust services sanctions, director disqualification
Ukraine18 June 2021Listed indefinitely (Decree 266/2021)
Australia14 March 2022Listed (Australian consolidated list)
Poland–Not on Poland’s national sanctions list

The United States first sanctioned Chemezov on 28 April 2014, after Russia’s annexation of Crimea. The Treasury named him among seven Russian government officials, including “two key members of the Russian leadership’s inner circle” (US Treasury, 28 April 2014, OFAC). On 3 March 2022 the State Department designated him again under the Russia programme as a senior official of the Russian government, together with his wife Yekaterina Ignatova, his sons Stanislav, Alexander and Sergey and his stepdaughter Anastasiya Ignatova (US State Department, 3 March 2022, OFAC).

The European Union listed him on 12 September 2014. The EU list describes him as chairman of the Rostec conglomerate and a member of the Supreme Council of United Russia. The EU renewed its measures on 22 September 2026 until September 2029 without changing his entry (Council Decision (CFSP) 2026/2161). His wife and stepdaughter have been on the EU list since April 2022 and his son Stanislav since July 2022. Canada listed him on 17 February 2015 and several family members in 2022 (Canada’s consolidated sanctions list).

The UK sanctions list gives 31 December 2020 as his designation date under its Russia regime. Its statement of reasons calls him “one of President Putin’s known close associates” and says that “under the direction of Chemezov, Rosoboronexport supported the integration of Crimean defence companies into Russia’s defence industry” (UK sanctions list). The United Kingdom sanctioned his wife, stepdaughter and two sons in March 2022 and his son Sergey in May 2022. Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council sanctioned him on 18 June 2021 as general director of Rostec, without time limit, and Decree 266/2021 put the decision into force (Verkhovna Rada, RBC-Ukraine, 18 June 2021, Radio Svoboda, 24 June 2021). Australia listed him by an instrument dated 13 March 2022, which took effect the next day, as “Chair of Rostec and member of the Supreme Council of United Russia”; its consolidated list of 16 October 2026 still includes him (Autonomous Sanctions Amendment (No. 6) Instrument 2022, Australian Sanctions Consolidated List, 16 October 2026).

In March 2025 the Washington law firm Rathmell Short agreed to represent Chemezov in seeking his removal from the US sanctions list. The firm registered the work with the US Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act in May 2025 (FARA filing, Kyiv Post, 30 May 2025, The Kyiv Independent, 7 October 2025). The OFAC list of 8 October 2026 still includes him.

Spanish authorities seized the 85-metre yacht Valerie, since renamed Meridian A, in Barcelona in March 2022. Formally it belonged to his stepdaughter Anastasia Ignatova through a company in the British Virgin Islands. The Kyiv Independent reported that it was detained because of its alleged connection to Chemezov, and that his name has never appeared in the yacht’s ownership documents (OCCRP, 2021, SuperYacht News, 4 September 2024, The Kyiv Independent). In 2019 Chemezov told Russian media: “I do not accumulate wealth. I don’t stuff money in the corners. I don’t have yachts or airplanes” (The Guardian, OCCRP). We found no court ruling on who owns the yacht.

We checked the US, UK, Canadian and Polish lists on 11 October 2026, Australia’s consolidated list of 16 October 2026 and the EU list as of its review of 22 September 2026. Poland does not list him. We found no record of a criminal investigation against Chemezov.

About this profile

This profile was rewritten in October 2026. The 2022 version placed his birthplace in the Ural Mountains; Cheremkhovo is in the Irkutsk region of Siberia. It said that the KGB recruited him in 1981, that he worked for Rosvooruzheniye from 1991 and that he became head of Rostec in 2006. The sources give a different career, set out above, and the appointment to Rostec came in November 2007. The old version also described the AK-47 as a Rostec product “because of its flat jet nozzle” and said that he had received the Order of Lenin, the Order of Alexander Nevsky and the title Hero of Labour, sat on the editorial board of The Moscow Times and had recently visited eastern Ukraine. We found no source for any of these statements; the title he holds is Hero of the Russian Federation. Statements about Russian oligarchs in general did not concern him and have been removed. The box at the top of this page shows his sanctions status and notes that Forbes does not list a net worth for him.

Sources

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