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Alexander Mashkevitch

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Alexander Mashkevich
Born (1954-02-23) 23 February 1954 (age 70)[1]
Frunze, Kyrgyz SSR, Soviet Union
NationalityIsraeli
Kazakhstan
OccupationMajor shareholder in Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation

Alexander Antonovich Mashkevich (Hebrew: אלכסנדר משקביץ; also transliterated Alexandr Mashkevic; Russian: Александр Антонович Машкевич; born 23 February 1954) is an Israeli-Kazakh businessman and investor who has major holdings and close political relationships in Kazakhstan. He holds both Kazakh and Israeli citizenship.[2]

He enriched himself in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, as he, Patokh Chodiev, and Alijan Ibragimov, obtained mineral and gas operations when they were privatized in Kazakhstan.[3] They founded the company Eurasian Natural Resources Corp.[4]

Biography

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Mashkevich was born in Frunze, Kyrgyz SSR, Soviet Union, in 1954. His father Anton, a doctor born in Lithuania, and his mother, Rakhel Yoffe, a lawyer born in Vitebsk, were evacuated to Kyrgyzstan in 1941.[1] His family background is Lithuanian Jewish. He is a graduate of Kyrgyz State University where he studied philology. Mashkevich started out on an academic career, but became a businessman during perestroika.

Mashkevich served as president of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC) until 2011. The EAJC is one of the five regional branches of World Jewish Congress (WJC). He is also a major donor to the Israel lobby group European Friends of Israel.[5]

In 2002, in apparent consultation with Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Mashkevich asked his Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev — a personal friend — to intervene with Iran concerning Israeli soldiers captured by Hizbullah.[6]

Career

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Mashkevich, Patokh Chodiev, and Alijan Ibragimov form "the Trio", a group of Kazakh businessmen who became billionaires.[2] The Trio gained control of the recently privatized chromium, alumina, and gas operations in Kazakhstan (among the largest in the world).[7][8]

Mashkevich is a major shareholder in Eurasian National Resources Corporation (ENRC), now one of the world's leading natural resources groups.[9] ENRC, based in London, operates a number of metals assets in Kazakhstan and Africa, having acquired numerous mining operations in Eastern Europe and Africa. In 2009, ENRC generated a $1,462 million profit on sales of $3.8 billion.[citation needed] ENRC was floated on the London Stock Exchange in December 2007, with a market capitalisation on Admission of approximately £6.8 billion. In 2013, ENRC was privatized to form the Eurasian Resources Group.

Mashkevich is one of the owners of London-based Alferon Management, which has acquired mining operations in Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Kosovo, Russia, and other countries.[10]

In 2019 he was on the Forbes list of billionaires, with a worth of $2.4 billion.[11]

On April 6, 2011, Mashkevitch announced his intention to found a Jewish version of Al-Jazeera.[12][13]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Машкевич Александр". Tengrin News. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  2. ^ a b Krichevsky, Lev (18 October 2004). "Wealthy Kazakh businessman looks to make mark on Jewish world". www.ncsj.org. Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Archived from the original on 26 October 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-17.
  3. ^ Özcan, G. (2016-04-30). Building States and Markets: Enterprise Development in Central Asia. Springer. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-230-29695-4.
  4. ^ Werdigier, Julia (2013-04-24). "More Turnover at Kazakh Miner Listed in London". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-03-06.
  5. ^ Gil Shefler 450 MPs from 37 European countries come to promote friendship with Israel, Jerusalem Post, 6 February 2011, accessed 18 November 2021
  6. ^ Galili, Lily (29 October 2002). "A Kazakh Oligarch Trying To Be a Jewish Tycoon". www.ncsj.org. Ha'aretz. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-17.
  7. ^ "The Steel Maharajah". BBC. BBC News. 24 July 2002. Retrieved 2009-08-25.
  8. ^ Kazhegeldin, Akezhan (24 December 2004). "The end of the "controlled" democracy". Respublika. International Eurasian Institute for Economic and Political Research. Archived from the original on 6 May 2006. Retrieved 4 May 2006.
  9. ^ Hecht, Albert (June 24, 2013). "Alexander Mashkevich Looks Like Finally Getting His Wish To Take ENRC Private". Jewish Business News. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  10. ^ Laruelle, Marlene; Peyrouse, Sebastien (2015). Globalizing Central Asia: Geopolitics and the Challenges of Economic Development. Routledge. p. 192. ISBN 978-0-7656-3505-1.
  11. ^ "Forbes". Forbes.
  12. ^ "Russian billionaire to found 'Israeli Al-Jazeera'". The Jerusalem Post. April 7, 2011. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  13. ^ Weisler, Alex (June 27, 2011). "Billionaire Mashkevich quits Euro-Asian Jewish Congress presidency". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
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