Mikhail Fridman

Mikhail Fridman was born in 1964 in Lviv

Fridman was born in 1964 in Lviv, then part of the Soviet Union, to a secular Jewish family. He finished high school there in 1980. He says he was refused entry to a Moscow physics college because he is Jewish.

He studied metallurgical engineering at the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys and graduated with distinction in 1986. As a student he ran a discotheque and other small ventures. He then worked as a design engineer at the Elektrostal Metallurgical Works from 1986 to 1988.

In 1988 he started several businesses and, with partners, founded Alfa-Photo. In 1989 they founded the firms that grew into Alfa Group, and in 1991 he co-founded Alfa-Bank. The group later formed X5 Retail Group and held telecom stakes, and in 2013 he co-founded LetterOne after selling his stake in TNK-BP.

In 2022 the EU imposed sanctions on him after Russia invaded Ukraine, and he stepped down from the boards of LetterOne and Alfa Group. That year he received an Israeli passport. In December 2022 he was arrested in London on suspicion of money laundering and other offenses, and the investigation was closed in September 2023.