| Andrey Yakunin | |
| Birth Name: | Andrey Yakunin |
| Birth Date: | 1975 |
| Relatives: | Vladimir Yakunin (father) |
| Children: | Igor Yakunin |
| Education: | St. Petersburg State University |
| Employer: | VIY Management |
| Occupation: | Businessman |
Andrey Yakunin (Андрей Владимирович Якунин) (born 1975) is a Russian businessman. He is the eldest son of Vladimir Yakunin, the former head of Russian Railways and a close Vladimir Putin associate.
His mother is Natalya. Andrey has a brother, Viktor Yakunin.
Andrey Yakunin lives in Hampstead, north London, where his son, Igor, attended the exclusive Highgate School and is now studying medicine at the University of Cambridge.
Yakunin holds a Ph.D. in Finance and Credit from St. Petersburg State University, an MA degree in Economics and Mathematics, and EMBA Global from London Business School and Columbia University Graduate School of Business.[1] He is an associate professor of economics at the St Petersburg State University.
Yakunin runs VIY Management, a private equity and real estate investment company[2] which he founded in 2006[3] with British, Israeli-born, investor Yair Ziv. The company facilitates foreign investment in Russia and is pursuing a plan to build hotels in Russia.[4] [5] Yakunin is also participating via VIYM in the construction of houses in St. Petersburg[6] and in 2014 acquired Russian chocolatier French Kiss.[7]
Yakunin is the chairman of the National Alternative Investment Management Association (NAIMA) in Russia.[2]
He has British citizenship and citizenship of the Russian Federation.
Yakunin was arrested in Norway 17. October charged with illegally flying a drone in Norwegian airspace.[8] All Russian citizens were forbidden to operate any kind of drone from 28 of February 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[9]