Warnig Matthias

Warnig Matthias

Biography

Arthur Matthias Varnig was born in 1955.

In 1981 he graduated from the Higher School of Economics named after Bruno Leischner (Berlin) with a degree in National Economics (qualification as an economist).

From 1981 to 1990, Matthias Varnig worked in various positions in the government of the German Democratic Republic, in particular, served in the HVA - the foreign intelligence of the GDR, which was considered one of the three best in the world.

1991: Acquaintance with Vladimir Putin

After the unification of Germany, Varnig got a job at Dresdner Bank, and in 1991 he went to prepare for the opening of a representative office in St. Petersburg. Then, according to the officially confirmed version, Varnig met Vladimir Putin, chairman of the committee on external relations of the city hall, who was in charge of permits to open offices of foreign companies.

Another version published in Forbes in 2012 indicates that Putin and Varnig could have met earlier - as intelligence officers of their countries^[1]

Over time, Varnig's relationship with Putin became closer and more personal. Irene Pitch, a German friend of Lyudmila Putin, recalled how she got into a terrible car accident in 1994. In the book Piquant Friendship, Pitch says that the management of "a large German bank provided treatment in a [German] clinic." And he mentions the Moscow family of East Germans, "whom Putin met [still] in Dresden." The head of this family is a high-ranking manager at the bank that organized the treatment (these confessions question the St. Petersburg version of acquaintance with Putin and rather confirm the Dresden one, Forbes wrote).

According to information published by Forbes in 2014, Varnig meets with the President of Russia much more often than the heads of state and government. If the latter sometimes have to wait months for reception, then Varnig regularly visits the Kremlin. Sources in Moscow said that Putin and Varnig are seen about once every three weeks^[2].

As of 2017, Varnig holds the position of executive director of the subsidiary Gazprom of Nord Stream 2 AG, and is also a member of the board of directors of Transneft, the supervisory board of Bank VTB, is deputy chairman of the board of directors Rosneft of United Company, as RUSAL well as a member of the administrative boards of GAZPROM Schweiz AG () Switzerland and GAS Development Project.

2017: Purchase of New Cloud Shares

In November 2017, Varnig became a co-owner of the Russian company New Cloud Technologies.

2019: Sale of New Cloud Shares

According to SPARK-Interfax, in April 2019, Matthias Varnig sold all his shares of New Cloud Technologies. He had 0.9%. The main owner of the company is the ex-vice president of Rostelecom Andrei Cheglakov, his share in NOTs at the same time increased by 3.15% to 72.8%.

Matthias Varnig sold the shares in order to fix the profit, a representative of NOTH told Vedomosti. According to him, Varnig's share rose in price because the company increased its market share, attracted large customers and accelerated the development of the My Office package. The program for the import substitution of software is also positively affected, the NOTH indicated.

2020

Remuneration of $580 thousand for working on the board of directors of Rosneft

In May 2020, Rosneft proposed to maintain the remuneration of members of the board of directors in 2020 at the level of 2019.

Former Chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schroeder is invited to pay $600 thousand, Hamad Rashid Al Mohannadi - $530 thousand, Faizal Alsuvaidi - $530 thousand, Matthias Varnig - $580 thousand, Oleg Vyugin - $560 thousand, Hans-Jörg Rudloff.

Membership of the VTB Supervisory Board

At the end of September 2020, VTB shareholders at the annual general meeting elected the supervisory board of the bank in a new composition. It included the head of the Ministry of Economic Development of the RFMaksim Reshetnikov and the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, the head of the apparatus of the government of the RFDmitry Grigorenko. Also, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev and First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Government of the Russian Federation Valery Sidorenko became members of the Supervisory Board. More details here.

2021

Membership in Rosneft's Board of Directors

On June 1, 2021, a meeting of Rosneft shareholders was held, at which a new composition of the board of directors was elected. Matthias Varnig entered it. More details here.

Hit by US sanctions

In April 2021, the US Department of Justice approved two new packages of sanctions against the operator of the construction of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline - Nord Stream 2 AG, and its head Matthias Varnig. Documents will be submitted to Congress in May.