Vladimir Kiriyenko, son of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Deputy Chief of Staff Sergei Kiriyenko, has continued making investments in the West through offshore companies despite sanctions, The Moscow Times reported on Jan. 21.
Kiriyenko, the CEO of the Russian social media site Vkontakte, holds shares in at least one venture capital fund and maintains ownership in various offshore companies registered in the British Virgin Islands and Barbados, according to documents seen by The Moscow Times.
The son of one of Russia's most influential men, Kiriyenko was appointed to head the Gazprombank-owned social site Vkontakte at the age of 38.
His father, Sergey Kiriyenko, served as Russia's prime minister in 1998 and is currently Russian President Vladimir Putin's deputy chief of staff. He was a leading figure in organizing Russia’s sham elections in the occupied Ukrainian territories in 2023 and has been described as one of the chief architects of Russian disinformation and propaganda operations.
According to The Moscow Times, Vladimir Kiriyenko went to court in the British Virgin Islands to claim shares of his Titanium VC fund to be transferred from offshore company Yalecrest to him. In a document he signed, the worth of shares to be transferred amounted to $500,000.
Titanium VC Limited, partially owned by Kiriyenko, is an investment fund that was launched with $50 million in 2013. It has focused on Israeli startups that were later acquired by tech companies from the United States.
Since 2022, Kiriyneko has been sanctioned by the U.S., the U.K., and the EU, among other countries. His social media network, VKontakte, is one of the most popular sites in Russia. It was banned in Ukraine in 2017 due to the Russian government's influence over its administration and its storing of data in Russian servers.
Katie Marie Davies
