| Viatcheslav Kantor | |
| Birth Name: | Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor Вячеслав Моше Кантор |
| Birth Date: | 8 September 1953 |
| Nationality: | Russian |
| Native Name Lang: | ru |
| Education: | Moscow Aviation Institute (diploma, 1976) Moscow Aviation Institute (PhD, 1981) |
| Occupation: | Businessman |
| Spouse: | Anna Kantor |
| Children: | 5 |
Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor (Russian: link=no|Вячеслав Моше Кантор,[1] born 8 September 1953) is a Russian businessman.
Kantor was President of the European Jewish Congress, President of the World Holocaust Forum Foundation (WHF), Chairman of the European Jewish Fund (EJF), and Chairman of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) Policy Council.[2] [3]
Kantor was born and spent his early years in Moscow, and obtained a degree from the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI) in 1976 and did research for MAI and NPO Spektr. In 1981, he completed his PhD in Spacecraft Automatic Control Systems. He worked as a scientist and headed one of MAI research laboratories.
In 1989–1993, Kantor was Director General of Intelmas, a telecoms company. In 1996–2000 he was an economic adviser to the Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federal Assembly.
Kantor heads the Acron Group, one of the leading mineral fertilizer producers and distributors in the world.[4]
In 2021, Forbes estimated Kantor's net worth at US$7.6 billion.[5] [6] [7] [8]
Kantor had close ties to the Vladimir Putin regime in Russia.[9] However, in 2014 he allocated at least two million dollars in aid to the voluntary Jewish battalion Matilan, formed to fight the separatists of Donbass backed with Putin regime.[10] [11]
Kantor heads the Acron Group, one of the leading mineral fertilizer producers and distributors in the world.
Kantor was sanctioned by association by the British government in March 2022 in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[12] [13] Consequently University College School has decided to review the name of its sports pavilion which is named after Kantor.[14] [15]
On 8 April 2022 the European Union imposed sanctions against Viatcheslav Kantor.[16] [17]
Kantor was President of the European Jewish Congress. The EJC, the largest secular organization representing the interests of European Jewry, is an influential, international public association representing 2.5 million Jews across the European continent in 42 national Jewish communities.
In 2021, he was reelected Chairman of the Policy Council of the World Jewish Congress for the third time[18] [19] [20] Kantor is a Vice President of the Jewish Leadership Council.[21] In 2010, he established the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University.[22] [23] In 2019, Yad Vashem nominated Moshe Kantor as Chancellor of the Council, and before it he served as its Member of Directorate since 2010.[24] Kantor was President of the Russian Jewish Congress (RJC) in 2005–2009. He founded and headed the World Holocaust Forum (WHF) in 2005. He is a founder and chairman of the European Jewish Fund (EJF), established in 2006.
He has chaired the World Holocaust Forum Foundation.[25] [26] In 2020, the World Holocaust Forum organized by Kantor came under controversy after Vladimir Putin was allowed to give a speech that distorted the history of the Soviet Union in World War II. The forum refused to allow Polish President Andrzej Duda to have a speaking slot.
He is the founder and president of President of the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation (ECTR). Kantor drafted and has repeatedly attempted to pass the ECTR's proposed European law known as the Model National Statute for the Promotion of Tolerance, one of the most sweeping hate speech laws ever proposed in Europe.[27]
In 2007, Kantor founded and was elected president of the International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe, an international non-governmental organisation uniting leading world-renowned experts on nuclear non-proliferation, materials and delivery vehicles. The Forum was established pursuant to a decision of the International Conference held in Luxembourg on 24–25 May 2007. The conference was attended by over 50 renowned experts from 14 countries, including Sergey Kirienko, Director General of the Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation, Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Nikolay Laverov, Academician and Vice President of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), William Perry, former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Defense, and Hans Blix, Chairman of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission and former Director General of the IAEA.
Kantor is married to Anna Kantor and has four sons and a daughter. Kantor is a citizen of Russia, the United Kingdom and Israel.[28] [29] [30]
Kantor bought a violin made by the Italian violin maker Riccardo Antoniazzi in 1912. The violin has been given as a First Prize of the 2nd International Violinists Vladimir Spivakov Contest. Its price was $140,000.[31]
Kantor was a trustee of the Anna Freud Centre (London, UK), but was removed from this position after the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.[32] [33] Kantor was previously a patron of King Solomon High School (London, UK).[34] Kantor supported the development of the school which is a Jewish Comprehensive school based in Redbridge.[35]
Kantor has been a benefactor of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden Foundation since 2013, in which capacity he has facilitated various projects.[36]
Kantor was appointed Life Governor and Trustee of the King Edward VII's Hospital in London after his charitable foundation funded the redevelopment of the site adjacent to the hospital, Macintosh House, which was subsequently renamed the Kantor Medical Centre.[37] [38]
Kantor is president of the Museum of Avant-Garde Mastery (MAGMA),[39] founded in 2001 in Moscow on Kantor's initiative.
In 2018, President of the Russian Academy of Arts and People's Artist of the URSS Zurab Tsereteli officially awarded Kantor as the President of MAGMA Museum with the robe and diploma of Honorary Member of the Russian Academy of Arts.[40]
Kantor received the following government awards: Order of Friendship (Russia, 1998), Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit (Poland, 2005), Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (Ukraine, 2006), Order of Leopold (Belgium, 2009), Chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honour (France, 2012), Knight's Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Italy, 2013), Grand Cross with honours of the National Order of Merit (Romania, 2014), Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honour (France, 2014, presented in 2015), The Order of Honour (Russia, 2016), Officer of the Order of the Crown (Belgium, 2020) and Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria (Austria, 2021).[41]
He is an honorary citizen of Veliky Novgorod (1997)[42] and Honorary Member of the Russian Academy of Arts.[43]
In addition, he received an honorary doctorate from Tel-Aviv University (2004)[44] and the Medal of Merit "Deserved for Tolerance" by the Ecumenical Foundation Tolerance (2011).
Kantor has been recognized for seven consecutive years as one of the '50 Most Influential Jews in the World'.[45]
In 1997, Viatcheslav Kantor was named Honorary Citizen of Veliky Novgorod.[46]