Farkhad Akhmedov

Akhmedov was born in Baku, Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. He comes from an ancient family with roots in the Western (Zangezur) region of historical Azerbaijan. He spent his childhood in the city of Goychay located in the central region of Azerbaijan, where his father worked. He graduated from high school there in 1971.

His father, Teymur Faraj oglu Akhmedov, held senior management positions for many years. The last position was the Director of the Goychay Cannery Factory, which had been constructed under his supervision. In 1969 he became its first director. Teymur Akhmedov was arrested in 1971 on trumped-up charges of misappropriation of socialist property, convicted and sentenced to death by shooting. He was executed in 1973 and the burial place discovered in 2012).

The arrest and execution of his father led to de facto isolation of all members of his family and the restriction of their civil rights. For this reason, Akhmedov left Azerbaijan in 1971, at the age of fifteen, and moved to Moscow. He arrived in the Russian capital with just 48 roubles in his pocket and a minimal knowledge in the Russian language. In Moscow he entered Vocational Technical School No. 85 (assembling fitter) before being called up for military service, serving from 1975 to 1977 in the Navy as a senior sergeant and platoon commander.

At the end of his service, on the recommendations of his naval commanders, he submitted an application for admission to the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) but was turned down  because of his father's conviction.

In 1978, Akhmedov entered the Moscow Veterinary Academy named after K.I. Skryabin, graduating on an extra-mural basis in 1983 with a degree in Technology and Merchandising Process of Fur Products.

From 1986 to 1994, Akhmedov lived in London, initially engaging in the sale of furs in international markets. Later he founded and headed the Tansley Trading company specialising in the supply of equipment for the oil and gas industry of the USSR and also traded in oil and oil products.[1]

At the turn of 1990s, he took part in international negotiations on the development of deep-water oil and gas fields in the Caspian Sea basin. Using previously established contacts, he helped to attract American oil companies, Amoco Eurasia Petroleum Corporation and McDermott International to the project. He also made a significant contribution to the subsequent implementation of the so-called "Contract of the Century" - an agreement signed in Baku on 20 September 1994 between the newly independent Azerbaijan and an international consortium of oil companies on the development of Caspian energy resources. It laid the foundation for the current level of development and prosperity of Azerbaijan.

According to Akhmedov's memoirs, these negotiations, which began before the collapse of the USSR, presented political, organisational and technical challenges. The team which helped bring them to a successful conclusion included Natik Aliyev and Khoshbakht Yusifzade who later became Heads of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan.[2]

Since 1995, Akhmedov has concentrated on business in Russia. He took a minority stake in Northgas, a company which developed gas fields in Northern Siberia. Simultaneously he headed the Board of Directors of the FARCO Securities investment company (1995 - 1998) and entered the Board of Directors of Northgas Closed Joint Stock Company (1994-2001).

He headed the Board of Directors of Northgas, CJSC in 2002.  Under his leadership the company moved into long term profitability.[3] In 2005, under pressure from the Russian gas monopolist Gazprom, he ceded 51% of Northgas shares to it.[4]

In 2012,  Akhmedov sold his 49% stake in Northgas to Novatek for $1.375 billion, changing his status as an oil and gas trader to a private investor.[5]

Alongside his entrepreneurial activity, he completed an extramural post-graduate programme at the Russian State University of Oil and Gas named after I. M. Gubkin and submitted his dissertation for the degree of Candidate of Economic Sciences. He was elected a Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Technological Sciences.

In 2004, Akhmedov was appointed a representative of the Administration of the Krasnodar Territory in the Federation Council of the Russian Federation (until 2007). He was the first, and remains the only ethnic Azerbaijani to have sat in the upper chamber of the legislative authority of the Russian Federation.

His active participation in the political and economic life of the region included laying the foundation for the development of a modern tourism cluster in the Krasnodar Territory which helped promote the territory as an investment attractive region.  

In 2007, he was appointed representative of the Assembly of Deputies of the Nenets Autonomous Area in the Federation Council, serving until 2009.

During his work at the Federation Council he was a member of the Committee on Legal and Juridical Issues, participating in the development and adoption of a number of legislative acts of the Russian Federation.

In the period 2007 - 2010, Akhmedov took an active part in the work of the Russian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), repeatedly acting as an international election observer - including in Azerbaijan.  

During this period, he worked with an extensive list of international contacts which helped him to make a decisive contribution to the normalisation of Russia-Turkey relations which had become strained in 2015. At a personal meeting with the President of Turkey, he proposed the only viable option for resolving differences that suited both parties – a contribution later made public by Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Turkey).[6]

In January 2018, Akhmedov, amongst others, was included in the so-called "Kremlin report" - a US Treasury document submitted to the US Congress in accordance with the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). From the point of view of US law, inclusion in the document did not imply legal consequences for the persons listed.[7]

Since 2011, Akhmedov has permanently been on the list of top 200 richest people in Russia according to the Russian version of Forbes magazine. In 2019, he ranked 67th in the rating of the richest people in Russia (estimated private fortune - $1.4 billion). In the list of billionaires of the world version of Forbes, he ranks at 2141st.[8]

Akhmedov belongs to a relatively small circle of Russian billionaires who can easily prove the legal origin of their fortune. He has never taken part in the so-called "loans-for-shares auctions" and is one of the few large Russian businessmen who has not used state budget subsidies. In the Forbes files, Akhmedov is described as a "self-made" man.[9]

Akhmedov has been married three times with six children from those marriages, Anna Akhmedova (born 1979), Teymur Akhmedov (born 1993), Edgar Akhmedov (born 1996), Suleiman Akhmedov (born 2013), Aria Akhmedova (born 2017) and Adam Akhmedov (born 2020). His wife, Anna Akhmedova (née Adamova) was born in 1983.

His hobbies and interests include collecting paintings - including many by Azerbaijani artists. According to press reports, in 2015 he acquired the painting Untitled Yellow and Blue by the American artist Mark Rothko for $46.5 million. He is also interested in hunting and outdoor recreation with his family.[10]

Akhmedov has extensive connections in political circles and among business leaders from a number of states. The media has noted his friendships at varying times with Roman Abramovich, Pyotr Aven, German Gref, Boris Berezovsky, Yevgeny Shvidler and Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.

He speaks frequently across various media platforms on a range of global and regional issues. Facebook page,. He has a personal blog on the Echo of Moscow portal.[11] Among the issues he regularly addresses are global politics and economics,[12] the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the ways of its settlement,[13] internal policy and reforms in Azerbaijan and Russia-Turkey relations.[14]

His pronouncements often receive mixed reviews for their outspoken and sharply polemical style. There was a sharp divergence of opinion around his "Give the world a chance!" published in August, 2016 (on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement) and the essay "On the benefits of the opposition" (December, 2019, on the then upcoming parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan).[15] In these and his other publications, Akhmedov declared his full support for the policy of reform of state and society being pursued by Ilham Aliyev, the President of Azerbaijan.[16]

On September 15, 2020, Aliyev signed a decree on awarding Fərhad Teymur oğlu Əhmədov (Akhmedov) with the Dostlug Order for merits in the development of mutual relations between Azerbaijan and Russia.[17]

In 2006, Akhmedov bought out and through substantial investments, restored the functioning of the Goychay Cannery Factory where his father had been director.

Since 2009, he has been the Chairman of the Board of Directors and a shareholder of the AZNAR Closed Joint-Stock Company named after his father, Teymur Akhmedov.[22] His initial investment of $55 million in the project,[1] facilitated the production of high-quality products (primarily pomegranate juice) supplied to the domestic market and for export to the USA, Europe, Japan, China, New Zealand. This investment created  hundreds of jobs in the Goychay and Ismayilli regions of Azerbaijan.[23]

In the recent years, Akhmedov has also invested significant funds in the development of agriculture. In addition to fishing, cattle breeding, beekeeping, viticulture, he has established the production of first-class wine from grapes from his own vineyards. He has invested in other large-scale projects, in particular in the hospitality and medical sectors.

As of 2020, the total amount of funds invested by Akhmedov in projects in Azerbaijan has exceeded $200 million.

Akhmedov’s charitable works and philanthropy include providing financial assistance to schools, children's organisations, medical institutions, students, disabled people and veterans through the AZNAR charitable foundation and other organisations.[24]

He has organized numerous exhibitions of works of Azerbaijani artists abroad - in London, Venice and Paris. For many years, a main focus of Ahmedov's philanthropy has been his homeland, the Goychay region of Azerbaijan, where he sponsors various sports events and festivals.  

Akhmedov created and is the main sponsor of the Goychay Pomegranate Festival - a cultural event that has been held for 15 years in the first week of November.

In March 2020, he responded to the appeal of Ilham Aliyev, the President of Azerbaijan , and donated on behalf of AZNAR CJSC, 1 million manats to the National Fund for Fight Against Coronavirus.[25] He also provided financial and food aid to 1,600 families in Goychay region,

During the Second Karabakh War (September - November 2020), the AZNAR CJSC sent medicines, clothing, food and other essential items to the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan worth more than 1 million manats.[26] At the end of the war, Akhmedov transferred another 1 million manats to the Fund for Supporting the Families of Soldiers and Veterans of the War.

• AzNar Charity Foundation
• Reuters| Northgas stake seller sees $1.5 bln Inter RAO bid
• Kommersant | «Интер РАО» может стать партнером «Газпрома»