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Vol. I · 2026Search Archive


Tier B
Business Moguls · Israel · Russian Empire

Leonid Nevzlin

Леонид Невзлин

Yukos co-owner who fled Russia, bankrolled opposition media and became a top anti-Putin activist from Israel

🇮🇱 Fame: Israel🇷🇺 Origin: Russian Empire👤 Self🗣 Russian: Fluent
LN
Profile #531
ProfessionOil Tycoon (Yukos)
Russian originMoscowRussian Empire
AncestrySelf
RussianFluent
CategoryBusiness MogulsTier B
Biography

Leonid Nevzlinoil tycoon (yukos) with roots in the Russian Empire

Leonid Nevzlin is a Russian-Israeli businessman and political activist who was a major shareholder and board member of Yukos — Russia's largest oil company before its destruction by Putin. He fled to Israel in 2003 before the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and has since become one of the most prominent and financially significant backers of Russian opposition media and activism.

Russian Connection

Tracing the roots — Moscow

Born in Moscow in 1959, Nevzlin built his career alongside Khodorkovsky at Bank Menatep and Yukos. His Israeli citizenship and his subsequent dedication of his wealth to opposing Putin — funding Meduza, TV Rain, and other independent Russian media in exile — makes him one of the most consequential Russian diaspora figures of the post-2022 era.

Partner of Khodorkovsky; fled to Israel to avoid Putin.

Family Tree
Subject
Leonid Nevzlin🇮🇱 Israel
Origin
Moscow🇷🇺 Russian Empire
Historical context
Russian Empire · c. 1721–1917
Map of the Russian Empire

Moscow. At the time, this region lay within the Russian Empire, which spanned from Poland to the Pacific.

Map: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)
Key Achievements

A career defined by ambition

01
Major shareholder and board member of Yukos — Russia's largest oil company (1990s-2003)
02
Fled to Israel (2003) before Khodorkovsky's arrest
03
Major funder of Russian independent media in exile — Meduza, TV Rain
04
Founded Free Russia Foundation activities
05
Sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia by Russian courts
Russian diasporaborn in Russia/USSRRussian Empire rootsRussian speaker
Sources