Yury Kovalchuk

Yury Valentinovich Kovalchuk (; born 25 July 1951) is a Russian billionaire businessman and financier who is "reputed to be Vladimir Putin's personal banker". The Panama Papers leak revealed that Kovalchuk had transferred at least $1 billion to an offshore entity. Kovalchuk is a close friend of Putin: he hosted the wedding of Putin's daughter Katerina Tikhonova to Kirill Shamalov at his ski resort, Igora, in 2013. In 2022 journalist Mikhail Zygar said Kovalchuk could probably be called Number 2 in Russia.

While self-isolating from COVID-19 in 2020, Putin spent much time with Kovalchuk, and they share the view that the only important factor is to restore Russian greatness. According to some experts, Kovalchuk played a role in Putin's decision to invade Ukraine in 2022.