Vladimir Peftiev

Vladimir Pavlovich Peftiev (Belarusian: Уладзiмiр Паўлавiч Пефцiеў; Russian: Владимир Павлович Пефтиев, born 1 July 1957) is a Belarusian businessman, philanthropist[1] and author.[2][3]

Vladimir Pavlovich Peftiev
Владимир Павлович Пефтиев
Born (1957-07-01) 1 July 1957
Berdyansk, Ukrainian SSR
CitizenshipBelarus
OccupationBusinessman, philanthropist, author

Biography

Vladimir Pavlovich Peftiev was born on 1 July 1957 in the city of Berdyansk, Ukraine.[4]

Business

Peftiev was a head and owner of BelTechExport, Belarussian arms and military equipment exporter.[5] As of 2012, Peftiev sold his holdings in BelTechExport and "completely ceased his participation in this group of companies".[6][7]

His holdings also included BT Telecommunications, investment[8] and construction[9] agent.

Peftiev also co-owned Sport-Pari, an interactive lotteries operator. Another co-owner of Sport-Pari through one of his companies is Max Mirnyi, Belarussian tennis player and olympic champion.[10]

Peftiev was a minority shareholder of GSM operator "velcom".[11] "velcom" was subsequently sold to A1 Telekom Austria Group and rebranded as A1.[12][13] [14]

Controversies, criticism

EU sanctions

In 2011, after controversial 2010 presidential election in Belarus, the Council of the European Union listed Peftiev and his companies "BelTechExport", "Sport-Pari" and "BT Telecommunications" as sanctioned entities. In the Council's decision, Peftiev has been described as a "person associated with President Lukashenko and his family, chief economic advisor of President Lukashenko and key financial sponsor of the Lukashenko regime".[15][16]

Peftiev brought action against the Council in the General Court of the European Union.[17]

The team that defended Vladimir Peftiev in court included specialists in the field of human rights, including professor of Yale University and former President of Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Michael Reisman, and former Director of International Law department of University of Bonn professor Rudolf Dolzer.[18]

According to The Times, The European Court of Justice annulled sanctions against Mr Peftiev in 2014, after finding that the EU council had adduced no specific evidence to support its allegation that he was a key financial supporter of President Lukashenko, and as a result of that ruling the sanctions are deemed never to have existed.[19]

The General Court of European Union decided in Peftiev’s and his companies’ favour on 9 December 2014, annulling the sanctions and ruling that the Council of the European Union and European Commission failed to prove their assertions of Peftiev's links to Lukashenko.[20][21][22]

The General Court’s judgment of 9 December 2014 concerning Peftiev's company reads the following, deeming the sanctions to have never existed (clause 149):[23]

...the Court held that [sanctions involving Belarus] should be annulled in so far as they concern Mr Peftiev. By virtue of that annulling judgment, the annulled acts, in so far as they concern Mr Peftiev, are deleted retroactively from the legal order and deemed never to have existed … and consequently Mr Peftiev is deemed never to have been listed.

Situation with sanctions againts Peftiev was referenced by professor Rudolf Dolzer in his interview on May 8, 2018 to Latvian newspaper “Dienas bizness”, in which he pointed out to the false information in the Internet that was used against Vladimir Peftiev, and namely baseless accusations regarding illegal incomes of Mr. Peftiev and illicit arms trade.[24]

This decision of European General Court was left unattended by mass media. Moreover, various sources continued to publish disproved information that originated before or during sanctions, instead of deleting it from their servers according to the court’s decision. This was described by Professor Rudolf Dolzer in his article «Weeding Out Fake Journalism» for 10th issue of Forbes Georgia:[25][26]

Notwithstanding this clear decision, published in 2014, many concerned Internet sources, including respected data information providers, have decided, for whatever reason, to ignore the highest European Court, and still today, in 2018, have on their servers the outdated, discredited information. Another aspect of fake news has come out. A portion of the media ignored the judgment of the European Court of Justice in favor of Mr. Peftiev, even though the original fake news underlying the sanctions had been published in virtually all media. While fake news was considered newsworthy, its refutation by the court went unnoticed by the same media.

Offshores

Peftiev was mentioned in the Bahamas offshore leaks in 2016: allegedly, he held three companies in Bahamas through an intermediary.[27]

In 2020, an investigation by The Times and Transparency Networks found that Peftiev’s family owned 12 flats in London, with a total worth around £18 million. This portfolio was purchased through a number of offshore companies. Peftiev's family were not under sanctions and the purchases did not breach sanctions.[28]

Science and technology

Peftiev has contributed to research and development of a number of new technologies in various fields, with multiple patents issued to his name. In his work, Peftiev has cooperated with Belarusian scientists such as Vladimir Alexandrovich Katko and Sergey Vladimirovich Pletnev.[29][30]

Philanthropy

Sport

Peftiev actively sponsored various sports projects in Belarus. He managed and supported creation of tennis club responsible for training young Belarussian players, among which were Olga Govortsova and Ekaterina Dzehalevich. [31][32] Peftiev was the main sponsor of Victoria Azarenka, Olympic tennis champion and former world No. 1, at the beginning of her career.[33][34]

From 2009 to 2012, Peftiev headed the Belarus Tennis Federation.[35][36] Max Mirnyi, former No. 1 player in the ATP Doubles Rankings, expressed his gratitude to Peftiev's work as a CEO of Belarus Tennis Federation.[37]

Religious heritage

Peftiev's contributions to the preservation of Orthodox Christian heritage have been recognised with awards from the Belarusian Orthodox Church.[38] He was a leading sponsor of the Nikolsky Orthodox Church in Tonezh (completed 2015), built to commemorate the site of a Nazi atrocity.[39][40][41]

During 2012–2015, Peftiev sponsored the mural paintings in St John the Baptist's Church of the Monastery of the Holy Ascension in Barkalabovo (Belarus) carried out by students and professors of the Monumental Art Department of the Belarusian State Academy of Arts in a team headed by Belarusian artist Vladimir Zinkevich.

Vladimir Peftiev is a Chevalier of Orders of the Russian Orthodox Church, a Chevalier of the Order of the Belorussian Orthodox Church, and has also been decorated by the Orthodox Metropolitan of Switzerland.

History and the arts

Peftiev has sponsored and in some cases co-authored a number of art and historical publications, mainly in the historical series "В поисках утраченного" ("In Search of the Lost") by Belorussian historian Vladimir Lihodedov, volumes of which include:[42][43][44]

  • "Tadeusz Kosciuszko In Old Postcards And Drawings"[45]
  • "Belarus through the camera lens of the German soldier", on the period during WWI when part of modern Belarus was occupied by German troops
  • "Adam Mickiewicz", on the poet and patriot of Belarus, Poland and Lithuania
  • "Aleksander Nevsky", on the Orthodox churches built in European countries in honor of the Russian saint-prince
  • "State Bank of the Russian Empire in postcards, late 19th-early 20th centuries"
  • "Monuments dedicated to the Patriotic War of 1812"

Peftiev co-authored the following:

  • "1812: Chronicles of the Patriotic War in Old Postcards and Drawings", a commemoration of the two-hundredth anniversary of the Russian Campaign of Napoleon I and the Russian Patriotic War of 1812[46][47]
  • "Equal-to-the-Apostles Duke Vladimir", a work on Vladimir the Great and his impact on Slavic culture[48][49][50]

In 2017, a book of maxims by Vladimir Peftiev titled "Maxims of a Man of Schemes"[51][52][53] was published with a foreword by the British philosopher and author A. C. Grayling. The foreword says:

These striking, amusing and sometimes pungent aphorisms are so full of a certain kind of pragmatic wisdom that I am moved to quote Professor Higgins on Mr Alfred Doolittle: that the latter was "the most original moralist" that the former had encountered for many years. The hard truths of practical life are apt to wring from people of experience a view of how to navigate the maze of routes that lies between desire and success; it is not, invariably, a view for the faint-hearted or those persuaded more by Aristotle than Gordon Gekko; but it will certainly strike a chord with many who have ventured that maze, and will certainly provide a preparation – and for some a warning – to those planning or wishing to do so. No-one can fail to profit, therefore – in at least one relevant sense of that term – from these maxims, offered by one who has been all the way through that maze and back.

Another book authored by Peftiev was published in 2020 and is titled "Quotations From Stories Yet To Be Written", with a foreword by a British author Adam Roberts.[54][55]

In 2012, an exhibition titled "2012. War and Peace" featuring Peftiev's private historic and art collection was opened in Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War.[56][57]

In 1999, Peftiev's companies partnered with Elizarev and the French Embassy in Belarus to produce the ballet "La Esmeralda" (inspired by Victor Hugo's "Notre Dame de Paris") at The National Academic Grand Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Republic of Belarus.

References
  1. "В белорусской деревне Тонеж освящен храм-памятник, установленный на месте сожженной нацистами церкви с верующими".
  2. "Славное имя".
  3. "Quotations From Stories Yet To Be Written".
  4. "Council Decision 2011/357/CFSP of 20 June 2011 amending Decision 2010/639/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against certain officials of Belarus".
  5. "£18m London homes of Belarusian businessman".(subscription required)
  6. "Российский бизнесмен купил белорусского экспортера вооружений "Белтехэкспорт"".
  7. "Российский бизнесмен купил "Белтехэкспорт"".
  8. "Права Пефтиева в Евросоюзе отстаивает лучшая литовская юридическая фирма".
  9. "Кто и что построит на участке рядом с Домом правительства".
  10. "Бизнес-успехи Максима Мирного".
  11. "Velcom на перепродажу?".
  12. "Velcom был продан за 556 млн. долларов".
  13. "Telekom Austria Group Finalizes Acquisition of Velcom as Agreed".
  14. "velcom окончательно становится A1. Что это значит для абонентов".
  15. "European Policy of Sanctions Runs into Trouble".
  16. "Council Decision 2011/357/CFSP of 20 June 2011 amending Decision 2010/639/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against certain officials of Belarus".
  17. "Action brought on 12 August 2011 — Peftiev v Counci".
  18. "The Aim of Sanctions is to Hurt".
  19. "£18m London homes of Belarusian businessman".(subscription required)
  20. "Judgment of the General Court (First Chamber) 9 December 2014 In Case T‑440/11".
  21. "Judgment of the General Court (First Chamber) 9 December 2014 In Case T‑441/11".
  22. "Judgment of the General Court (First Chamber) 9 December 2014 In Case T‑439/11".
  23. "Judgment of the General Court (First Chamber) 9 December 2014 In Case T‑441/11".
  24. "The Aim of Sanctions is to Hurt".
  25. "Weeding Out Fake Journalism".
  26. "Forbes Georgia in English - Issue #10".
  27. "Belarus dictator's 'bagman' Vladimir Peftiev, once a Malta resident, named in ICIJ's Bahamas offshore leaks".
  28. "£18m London homes of Belarusian businessman".(subscription required)
  29. "Method of combined treatment of maligant tumors".
  30. "Пефтиев Владимир Павлович".
  31. "Владимир Пефтиев сменил Михаила Павлова на посту главы БТА".
  32. "Белорусский теннис возглавил руководитель "Белтехэкспорта" В.Пефтиев".
  33. "Спарринг-партнер Азаренко и тренер Волчкова: Редфу, "физика" и психология стали причинами кризиса, в котором находится экс-первая ракетка мира".
  34. ""Наш теннис не отвечает Вике взаимностью". Бывшие боссы федерации тенниса — про Азаренко".
  35. "Шакутин сменил Пефтиева во главе Белорусской теннисной федерации".
  36. "Белорусскую теннисную федерацию возглавил руководитель "Белтехэкспорта"".
  37. "Max 'The Beast' Mirnyi Finally Rests".
  38. "На какие средства живет белорусская церковь".
  39. "Пефтиев профинансировал восстановление храма в "полесской Хатыни"".
  40. "Memorial church on the cite of the original one burned down by Nazis is consecrated in Belarus".
  41. "В белорусской деревне Тонеж освящен храм-памятник, установленный на месте сожженной нацистами церкви с верующими".
  42. "Уладзімір Ліхадзедаў: "Мару стварыць прыватны музей кнігадрукавання"".
  43. "Славное имя".
  44. "Спажыва для розуму і душы".
  45. "Tadeusz Kosciuszko In Old Postcards And Drawings".
  46. "Запечатленные моменты славы".
  47. "Национальная книжная палата Беларуси".
  48. "Полоцкую епархию посетил Уполномоченный по делам религий и национальностей Республики Беларусь".
  49. "Известные коллекционеры издали альбом в честь святого равноапостольного князя Владимира".
  50. "Ревнителям белорусской культуры".
  51. "Maxims of a Man of Schemes".
  52. "Maxims of a Man of Schemes (English and Russian Edition)".
  53. "Aforizmy kombinatora".
  54. "Quotations From Stories Yet To Be Written".
  55. "Quotations From Stories Yet To Be Written".
  56. "В Минске открылась выставка гравюр с участием экспонатов из коллекции Пефтиева".
  57. "Скажи-ка, дядя, ведь недаром!".
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