Ziyavudin Gadzhievich Magomedov (, born 1968) is a former Russian oligarch whose rapid rise in wealth between 2008 and 2010, followed by his sudden arrest in 2018, has been widely linked to the rise and fall of the so-called "Medvedev clan".
Magomedov amassed a business empire during presidency of Dmitry Medvedev, who stood in for Vladimir Putin from 2008 to 2012. According to Finance magazine, in a single year between 2009 and 2010, Magomedov's fortune grew more than elevenfold – from $70 million to $800 million. Between 2008 and 2018, his Summa Group was described as "one of the least transparent conglomerates in Russia" and primarily operated in sectors requiring government licenses and approvals. According to most media outlets and independent analysts, Ziyavudin relied heavily on his long-standing and close friendship with Arkady Dvorkovich, a key economic advisor to President Medvedev. He was also closely associated with Vladimir Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov and Gennady Timchenko, a close friend of Putin since the early 1990s and one of Russia's richest oligarchs.
These connections enabled Magomedov to secure major assets and lucrative government contracts. In 2011, Summa and Transneft took control of Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port in a deal widely criticized for its lack of transparency. Between 2008 and 2011, his companies received 226 billion roubles (approximately $7.7 billion at the average exchange rate) in government contracts, earning him fourth place on Forbes "Kings of State Contracts" list in 2012. That same year, he appeared for the first time in Forbes list of Russia's 200 richest businessmen, ranking 131st. He remained on the list until 2018, with his wealth peaking at $1.4 billion in 2017.
Key Russian opposition activists and political prisoners, including Alexei Navalny and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, have accused Magomedov of paying multimillion-dollar bribes by renting or purchasing super-yachts for high-profile Russian officials, including Dmitry Peskov and Vladimir Putin himself. In 2022, Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation included Magomedov in its "6,000 List" of enablers of the Russian invasion of Ukraine labeling him an "individual involved in corruption" and citing his payment for a honeymoon yacht trip for Dmitry Peskov's family.
In March 2018, Ziyavudin Magomedov was arrested in Russia along with his business partner and brother, Magomed Magomedov, a former Russian senator. Kremlin representatives claimed the arrest was 'part of the Russian government's efforts to fight corruption'. Magomedov's lawyers framed it as persecution "under politically motivated circumstances". However, most media outlets and analysts saw the arrest as part of high-level elite infighting – specifically, a crackdown on the so-called "Medvedev clan," which had been losing influence since Medvedev ceded the presidency to Putin in 2012. Magomedov was one of several oligarchs and senior officials associated with Medvedev's circle who were arrested, removed from office, or fled the country between 2013 and 2019. Others included his cousin Akhmed Bilalov, former Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail Abyzov, and former Minister of Defense Anatoly Serdyukov. The late prominent anticorruption activist, Russian opposition leader, and political prisoner Alexei Navalny also refrained from characterising Magomedov's arrest as political persecution, instead describing it as "merely one set of corrupt officials and fraudsters outmaneuvering another group of corrupt officials and fraudsters." Magomedov was sentenced in 2022 to 19 years in prison, later reduced to 18 years and 6 months.
In 2023, Magomedov sued TPG, DP World and Transneft in London for $13.8 billion, alleging a Kremlin-led asset grab. The claim was one of the largest ever filed in the London's High Court. The case was dismissed in 2025. He plans to appeal.
Early life Ziyavudin Magomedov was born in 1968 in Makhachkala, Dagestan. His ethnicity is Avar.
Magomedov's father was a surgeon, his mother worked as a teacher. Ziyavudin was one of four children in the family. His elder brother and business partner, Magomed Magomedov, also gained fame; from 2002 to 2009, he served as a member of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation representing the Smolensk region.
Education In 1993 Magomedov earned a bachelor's degree in international economics from Moscow State University.
While studying at the university, Ziyavudin made acquaintances that became decisive in his future career. He became a close friend of Arkady Dvorkovich, who from 2008 to 2012 served as President Medvedev's right-hand man and was responsible for economic regulation. In 2012, Dvorkovich became Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian government, overseeing the industries in which Magomedov's company acquired assets.
According to Novaya Gazeta, a media outlet headed at the time by 2021 Nobel Prize winner Dmitry Muratov, Magomedov and Dvorkovich briefly shared a room on a university campus. Sometimes, Magomedov even beat those who offended Dvorkovich. "After the election of a new president, Arkady Dvorkovich, with whom Magomedov studied in the same group at the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University and for some time even shared the same room in the university dormitory, became the Kremlin curator of economic sectors that appealed to the head of the still little-known Summa group of companies.
The friendship that began in their youth grew stronger every year until it turned into a full-fledged partnership in the mid-2000s. "They are complete antipodes. Arkady is small, delicate, avoids sharp corners, but is neat and has a sharp analytical mind. And Zia is tall, lean, powerful, decisive, talking to people from a position of strength. These opposites are attracted. They were interested in spending time together, they supported each other in their studies, they had a sense of back. A couple of times Zia even beat Arkady's offenders," recalls an acquaintance of Magomedov." Novaya Gazeta, The Prime Minister Removed from His Inner Circle: How the downfall of the Summa company and the arrest of its owners, the Magomedovs, will assist Dmitry Medvedev in retaining his position, 2018 Another of Ziyavudin's neighbors in the university dormitory was Ruben Vardanyan (future founder of Troika Dialogue).
Ziyavudin Magomedov earned a PhD in international economics in 2000 from Moscow State University.
Career
Early stages While a student during Perestroika in the late 1980s, Magomedov sold imported computers with his brother out of their university dormitory. In the early 1990s he founded the company Interfinance, specialising in investments and financial activities.
2000s Magomedov expanded his business interests in the early 2000s, acquiring land in Primorsk, Leningrad Oblast on which the Primorsk Trade Port was built, with a significant stake owned by Magomedov.
From 2004 to 2005 he was chair of the board of directors of Trans-Oil and the chairman of the board of directors of First Mining Company.
In 2006 Magomedov acquired over 80% of the PJSC Yakutsk Fuel and Energy Company (YATEC), a gas and fuel production company and the main gas producer in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).
In 2006 Magomedov's Summa, which had no prior experience in the telecommunications market, unexpectedly obtained a federal license to offer wireless Internet access services using the WiMAX standard. However, the company was unable to build this business and eventually was stripped of frequencies in 2013.
2008–2012: Rapid rise during Medvedev's presidency
Magomedov toiled on the margins of Russian business until Dmitry Medvedev became Vladimir Putin's place-holder president. Then in just three years Ziyavudin made most of his fortune through transport and logistics deals, often with the state. Magomedov's business enjoyed wild success during Dmitry Medvedev's presidency. In 2009, the magazine Finance valued his wealth at $70 million. A year later, Magomedov's worth had jumped to $800 million."Summa really only became an economic power in the last two years. They are essentially a Medvedev project," says one senior international banker. Financial Times, "Russia: Eyes on the prize", 2012Media and analysts associated Magomedov's success with the role of Arkady Dvorkovich, who, as an assistant and then deputy to Medvedev, oversaw the fuel and energy complex, industry, agriculture and transport — the main sectors in which Summa was one way or another present.Ziyavudin once studied in the same course at the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University together with Medvedev's longtime ally and assistant Arkady Dvorkovich. The friendship remained for many years. Dvorkovich, being Medvedev's deputy, oversaw the fuel and energy complex, industry, agriculture and transport — the main sectors in which Summa was one way or another present.Novaya Gazeta, "Summozakluchenie", 2022The Magomedovs' largest customers were the structures of the Ministry of Transport, which was supervised by Dvorkovich. The amount of such contracts for 2012–2015 exceeded 120 billion rubles (approx. $4 billion by average exchange rate).Forbes Russia magazine, "Family Affairs. How the Magomedov Brothers Built Their Business and the Consequences of Their Dispute", 2018Thanks to his connections with Medvedev's right-hand man, Magomedov rapidly ascended in status. In 2010, he became Russia's representative in APEC and by 2012 he held the position of Chairman of ABAC, the APEC Business Advisory Council.
Controversial NCSP deal In January 2011 Magomedov together with "Transneft" acquired a majority (50.1%) of the Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port (NCSP), the largest Russian port operator and the 3rd largest operator in Europe in terms of cargo turnover. In 2012 Mr. Magomedov was made chairman of the board of directors of PJSC NCSP.
The deal was heavily criticized in media and by anticorruption activists. Summa was accused of purchasing NCSP using port's own funds in a highly questionable transaction.Investors questioned the acquisition, because the deal did not technically cost Summa anything. In a complicated merger deal, the London-traded Novorossiysk port group first borrowed $2.1bn from the state's Sberbank to buy Primorsk port on the Baltic Sea from Summa and Transneft. Summa and Transneft then used the cash to acquire Novorossiysk from its former owners, who included Arkady Rotenberg, President Vladimir Putin's former judo partner. Some investors say Novorossiysk overpaid for Primorsk and tell-tale signs appear in the group's accounts. One is that $1.1bn is set aside in goodwill costs for the Primorsk acquisition, while pre-tax profits generated by Primorsk last year were not enough to repay annual interest on the loan.
But the deal, which took the form of a reverse takeover, cost Novorossiysk $2.1bn while technically costing Summa nothing. Meanwhile, the group has not visibly improved value for the port's investors: indeed, the share price has fallen more than 40 per cent.Financial Times, "Russia: Eyes on the prize", 2012