Alisher Usmanov

Alisher Burhanovich Usmanov was born on 9 September 1953 in Chust, Namangan Region, Uzbek SSR, to Burhan Usmanov, a prosecutor, and Dilbar Usmanova, a teacher of Russian. In 1976 he graduated from the international law faculty of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO). In 1992 he married the Russian rhythmic gymnastics coach Irina Viner; in 2022, as she herself confirmed, the couple divorced.

In 1980 he was convicted of fraud and sentenced to eight years in prison, of which he served about six. In July 2000 the Supreme Court of Uzbekistan quashed the verdict, finding the charges fabricated; his conviction has officially been expunged.

In 1999 he consolidated the mining and metals holding Metalloinvest, which became Russia’s largest producer of iron ore. In 2008–2013, through the investment fund DST Global, he invested in a number of internet companies, including Facebook, Alibaba, Twitter and Mail.ru Group. In 2012 Usmanov’s companies bought a controlling stake in the mobile operator MegaFon, and in 2013 his telecommunications and metals assets were combined in the USM holding.

From 2007 to 2018 he owned a stake of up to 30% in the English football club Arsenal, which he sold to the club’s co-owner Stan Kroenke after a long dispute over a seat on the board. Since 2008 he has headed the International Fencing Federation; in 2025, against the background of sanctions, he temporarily handed his powers to an acting president. In 2018 he was awarded the El-yurt hurmati order for his contribution to Uzbek–Russian economic ties, as well as orders of Kazakhstan and Russia.

In February–March 2022 the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States imposed sanctions on Usmanov over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, linking him to the circle of Russian President Vladimir Putin; some of his assets, including the yacht Dilbar, were barred from leaving Germany, and his property in Italy was seized. Usmanov challenged the EU decision in court without success, but on 22 September 2026 the EU member states removed him from the sanctions list by a political decision; the US and UK sanctions remain in force.