Russian oligarch holds key to China’s Olympic hopes

L to R: Vladimir Putin, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko and Alexander Zhukov

It’s a story that links some of the most famous Russians of the 21st century, including Marat Safin, Roman Abramovich and Vladimir Putin, but the most important Russian to China right now is a man by the name of Alexander Zhukov. That’s because he has just been appointed head of the evaluation commission for the 2022 Winter Games. In other words, he is leading the team that will select the host city.

Currently in the running are five cities: Beijing – bidding to become the first city to stage both a Summer and Winter Games – Oslo, Krakow, Lviv and Almaty. These five will be narrowed down to an expected three official candidate cities in July this year, before the final decision is announced on July 31, 2015 in Kuala Lumpur.

Zhukov and Putin in Sochi

Lviv can be safely ruled out given the current situation in Ukraine. Krakow could also soon be out of the running since the city is holding a referendum on May 25 to see whether there is enough support for the bid. Of the remaining three, Oslo is suffering from a lack of public support and could make the final cut in July only to see the Norwegian government pull the plug a few months later – a genuine possibility despite Oslo’s frontrunner status in some quarters.

That could leave Beijing and Almaty in Kazakhstan – the last Soviet republic to declare independence – competing to woo Zhukov, the current head of the Russian Olympic Committee and a key figure behind this year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi.

A little history on the man in charge…

He worked in the USSR’s Ministry of Finance in between degrees at Moscow State University and Harvard, and then worked his way up the political system before becoming Deputy Prime Minister of Russia between 2004-11, overseeing macroeconomic policy, investment, natural monopolies, statistics, insurance and sports.

His sport appears to be chess, having become Vice President (1999-2003) and President (2003-09) of the Russian Chess Federation, combining various roles related to the Sochi Olympics and was appointed the head of the Russian Olympic Committee in 2010 after Leonid Tyagachev resigned following Russia’s poor performance in Vancouver.

But as with many wealthy Russians, it seems there is also plenty of juicy stuff…

Described as a playboy billionaire (though caution is advised with all things Daily Mail), his daughter Dasha dated former world no. 1 tennis star Marat Safin, before her relationship with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich led to his divorce from his wife. Abramovich then fathered children number 6 and 7 with Dasha – who also did this.

Meanwhile, Zhukov’s son Petr, was jailed for 14 months in 2007 for beating up a fellow investment banker in London – but not before his father denied that the attacker was his son.

According to Reuters, then President Dmitry Medvedev demanded in September 2011 that officials must leave boards of the directors of state corporations. Zhukov, however, left the post of the chairman of the board of the Russian Railways, but remained one of the directors. He further angered Medvedev later that year when the ruling United Russia party only registered 37% of the vote in Kaliningrad – the region that Zhukov was responsible for.

But perhaps his finest moment was in 2001 when he argued that Russians who had illegally moved their assets abroad into tax havens should be forgiven their tax liability if they moved the assets back and paid a standard VAT rate of 13%.

Zhukov and Putin meet then-Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and then-Vice Premier Wang Qishan in 2011

Getting the picture now?

The close ally of Putin, who recently both cast doubt on the legitimacy of the Ukrainian government and backed Russia’s annexation of Crimea, is the man China must convince that Beijing and Zhangjiakou should stage the 2022 Olympics. Sounds like a match made in heaven.