Gennady Nikolayevich Timchenko is a Russian oligarch and billionaire businessman. He founded and owns the private investment firm Volga Group. He was previously a co-owner of Gunvor Group.
Timchenko has been close friends with Russian leader Vladimir Putin since the early 1990s. In 1991, Putin gave Timchenko an oil export license. Timchenko then founded Gunvor, which has now exported billions of dollars-worth of Russian oil.
Timchenko's investment firm Volga Group owns a large stake of shares of the natural gas giant Novatek. From Wikipedia
