ALAKBAROV, VAHID

(1950– )

   Oligarch

   Also spelled Vagit Alekperov, the oil magnate was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, to an oil worker in one of the world’s oldest centers of petroleum production. After beginning a career in the petroleum industry at 18, he took a number of positions across the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) before being appointed as the country’s youngest-ever minister of oil and gas in 1990. With Russia’s independence, he oversaw the creation of Lukoil, ultimately becoming the company’s president in 1993. While retaining his position at the world’s second-largest oil company where he is known as “the General,” Alakbarov has also expanded his holdings in other areas, and controls interests in banking and media companies, including Izvestiya>.