Vladimir Potanin: Norilsk Nickel, Interros and the Sanctions Against Him

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Sanctions status — checked 18 October 2026

Listed by: US (OFAC SDN) · UK (OFSI)

This person appears on the sanctions lists named above. Other countries are covered in the sanctions section below. Date of birth used for identification: 1961-01-03. 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 Vladimir Potanin’s net worth at $29.7 billion as of 18 October 2026 (Forbes profile). Estimates are revised continuously and Forbes and Bloomberg frequently disagree.

Vladimir Potanin is the president of Norilsk Nickel (Nornickel), the world’s largest producer of palladium, and the founder of the holding company Interros, which is the company’s largest shareholder. In the 1990s he was one of the architects of the loans-for-shares auctions under President Boris Yeltsin, through which his bank won control of Norilsk Nickel. He also served briefly as Russia’s first deputy prime minister. The United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have sanctioned him since 2022; the European Union and Switzerland have not. Nornickel itself is not on the US sanctions list.

  • Born: 3 January 1961 in Moscow (UK sanctions list, OFAC)
  • Education: Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), 1983
  • Known for: president of Norilsk Nickel, head of Interros, first deputy prime minister (1996–1997)
  • Sanctions as of October 2026: Canada (since 5 April 2022), Australia (since April 2022), United Kingdom (since 29 June 2022), New Zealand (since 12 October 2022), United States (since 15 December 2022); not listed by the European Union or Switzerland

Early career and Uneximbank

Potanin was born on 3 January 1961 in Moscow (UK sanctions list, Canada Gazette, SOR/2022-74). He graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) in 1983 with a degree in international economics and then worked for seven years at the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Trade (MGIMO Endowment, Russian International Olympic University). In 1990 he founded and headed the Interros Foreign Trade Association. After working at the bank MFK he became president of Uneximbank in 1993 (Russian International Olympic University, MGIMO Endowment). In 1997 Uneximbank was Russia’s third largest bank by assets (RFE/RL, 10 July 1997).

Loans for shares and government office

Potanin lobbied for the loans-for-shares scheme of the mid-1990s, under which Yeltsin’s government borrowed money from banks against stakes in state companies and auctioned the stakes off when the loans were not repaid. Reuters, Hyperallergic and Russian Life describe him as one of its principal authors (Reuters via The Moscow Times, 19 December 2012, Hyperallergic, 3 March 2022, Russian Life, 2004). In November 1995 Uneximbank won the right to manage 38 percent of Norilsk Nickel with a bid of $170.1 million, $100,000 above the reserve price; in August 1997 Interros paid $270 million plus fees to formally acquire the stake (Reuters via The Moscow Times). The scheme predates Vladimir Putin’s presidency, which began in 2000.

From 14 August 1996 to 17 March 1997 Potanin was first deputy prime minister in charge of economic affairs. He left the government in a reshuffle and returned to Uneximbank (Russian International Olympic University, MGIMO Endowment, RFE/RL). Since May 1998 he has been president of Interros (Russian International Olympic University).

Norilsk Nickel and Interros

His business partner Mikhail Prokhorov became Norilsk Nickel’s chief executive in 2001; after the partnership broke up, Prokhorov sold his quarter of the company to Rusal in April 2008. The dispute between Potanin and Rusal over the management of Norilsk Nickel ended in December 2012 with an agreement under which Roman Abramovich’s company bought a small stake and acted as a “peacemaker” between the two sides (Reuters via The Moscow Times, High Court, [2025] EWHC 1995 (Comm)). In the same month Potanin became chief executive of Norilsk Nickel (MGIMO Endowment, Reuters via The Moscow Times). He signs the company’s annual report as its president (Nornickel annual report 2025, TASS, 15 July 2026).

On 13 March 2026 Interros reduced its direct stake in Nornickel from 37 percent to 33.51 percent by passing 3.49 percent to the Vladimir Potanin Foundation; Interros said that it remains the largest shareholder. En+ Group, the parent company of Rusal, held 26.39 percent, and about 33 percent was in free float (Interfax, 16 March 2026, Kommersant, 13 March 2026). According to Kommersant, Nornickel produces about 40 percent of the world’s palladium and is the second largest supplier of nickel (Kommersant). In spring 2022 Interros bought Rosbank from Société Générale and 35 percent of TCS Group, the parent of Tinkoff Bank (Reuters via Mining.com, 5 May 2022, UK government, 29 June 2022). Interros also built the Rosa Khutor ski resort near Sochi, which Potanin started in 2003, before Sochi won the bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics (Caucasian Knot, 2 October 2013, Interfax, 13 February 2012).

Potanin attended Putin’s meeting with leading businesspeople in March 2023 and reported on Nornickel’s production at a meeting with Putin in July 2026 (The Bell, 21 March 2023, TASS, 15 July 2026).

Sanctions

CountryListedStatus in October 2026
Canada5 April 2022Listed
AustraliaApril 2022Listed (Australian consolidated list)
United Kingdom29 June 2022Listed
New Zealand12 October 2022Listed
United States15 December 2022Listed (OFAC SDN list); Nornickel itself is not listed
European UnionnoNot listed (EU consolidated list)
SwitzerlandnoNot listed (SECO sanctions list)

Canada listed Potanin on 5 April 2022 (Canada Gazette, SOR/2022-74). Australia listed him by an instrument dated 7 April 2022 as “President of Norilsk Nickel”, and its consolidated list of 16 October 2026 still includes him (Autonomous Sanctions Amendment (No. 11) Instrument 2022, Australian Sanctions Consolidated List, 16 October 2026). In May 2022 Reuters wrote that all other countries had spared him so far (Interfax, 8 April 2022, Reuters via Mining.com, 5 May 2022). The United Kingdom listed him on 29 June 2022. Its press release called him “Russia’s second richest man and key supporter of the Kremlin”; the statement of reasons on the sanctions list rests on his ownership of Interros, which operates in the financial services and extractive sectors, his ability to nominate a director of Rosbank and his position at Norilsk Nickel (UK government, 29 June 2022, UK sanctions list). New Zealand followed on 12 October 2022, describing him as a person of strategic or economic significance to Russia (New Zealand Russia Sanctions Register).

On 15 December 2022 the US State Department sanctioned Potanin, his wife and two other family members and Interros, while the Treasury sanctioned Rosbank, which he had acquired earlier that year (US Treasury, 15 December 2022, OFAC, 15 December 2022). His yacht Nirvana was identified as blocked property (OFAC). The State Department said that it had not designated Nornickel, and Nornickel reports that OFAC confirmed the measures do not apply to the company (Bloomberg via Fortune, 15 December 2022, Nornickel annual report 2025). In June 2024 OFAC added four Liechtenstein foundations linked to him (OFAC, 12 June 2024). On 24 June 2026 OFAC removed Ivan Potanin from its list without giving a reason; Vladimir Potanin remains listed (OFAC, 24 June 2026, Ukrainska Pravda, 25 June 2026).

The EU and Switzerland have not listed him. In the English divorce proceedings the court recorded that he is also sanctioned by Ukraine; we could not find the Ukrainian decree (Family Court, [2026] EWFC 80). We checked the US, UK and Canadian lists as of 8 October 2026, the Swiss list as of 5 October 2026, Australia’s consolidated list as of 16 October 2026 and the EU list as of its review of 22 September 2026.

Court cases in London

Potanin and Natalia Potanina married in 1983 and were divorced in Russia in February 2014 (Family Court, [2026] EWFC 80). After the Russian proceedings she sought a further financial award in England. In January 2024 the UK Supreme Court ruled by three to two that a lower court had applied the wrong legal test, and in 2025 the Court of Appeal allowed her claim to proceed; in December 2025 the Supreme Court refused Potanin permission to appeal (Reuters via Kitco, 31 January 2024, Law Gazette, UK Supreme Court). In April 2026 the Family Court refused his request to adjourn the case because of the sanctions and listed a final hearing for November 2026 (Family Court, [2026] EWFC 80, Family Court, [2026] EWFC 148).

In October 2022 Rusal sued Potanin and his company Whiteleave in London, alleging that he had breached the 2012 shareholder agreement on Norilsk Nickel; a trial is listed to begin in April 2027 (Reuters via Mining.com, 24 October 2022, Family Court, [2026] EWFC 80). After the UK sanctions, the Charity Commission removed him in June 2023 as an officer of the English charity Potanin Foundation; a tribunal dismissed his appeal on 25 February 2026 (First-tier Tribunal, [2026] UKFTT 271 (GRC), Pravo.ru, 27 February 2026). We found no criminal proceedings against Potanin.

Foundation and philanthropy

Potanin set up the Vladimir Potanin Foundation in Russia in 1999 to support education, culture and philanthropy (Vladimir Potanin Foundation, Giving Pledge). In February 2013 he became the first Russian to join the Giving Pledge (Russia Beyond, 22 February 2013, Giving Pledge). He stepped down as a trustee of the Guggenheim Museum in New York on 2 March 2022, after about 20 years; the museum did not give a reason (The Art Newspaper, 3 March 2022, Hyperallergic).

About this profile

This profile was rewritten in October 2026. The 2022 version called loans-for-shares “President Putin’s” programme; the auctions took place in 1995 under Yeltsin. It said that Putin had been an aide to Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov; Putin worked for Anatoly Sobchak in St Petersburg in those years. It said that Putin gave Potanin control of a large share of Russia’s platinum reserves in 2013 and that the two had a partnership in the energy sector; we found no source for either claim. It also described him as first deputy prime minister in the present tense and as a graduate of Moscow State University, dated his foundation to 2001 and credited it with a “New Names” programme for young musicians. It said that he owns a yacht called Barbara with its own submarine, an island in Finland and homes in London and New York. These statements are wrong or have 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.

Sources

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