Sergey Anatolyevich Petrov (; born 1954, in Chkalov) is a Russian politician and businessman who is the founder of the ROLF Group. From 2007 to 2016 — deputy of the State Duma of the V and VI convocations, he was a member of the political party Spravedlivaya Rossiya. In 2016, after the termination of his deputy powers, he returned to work in the Rolf Group of companies — he was Chairman of the Board of Directors of ROLF Group until 2019.

Biography

Sergey Petrov was born on August 16, 1954, in Chkalov (now Orenburg). After graduating from school in 1971 he entered The Higher Military Aviation School in Orenburg. In 1975 he achieved the rank of an officer and special qualification of a pilot-engineer. He worked as an instructor in the Military Aviation School in Orenburg. In 1982 he was dismissed from the Soviet Army at the rank of

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

and expelled from The

Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

for anti-Soviet propaganda and participation in secret democratic organizations. In 1982-1987, he received a second higher education at the Correspondence Institute of Soviet Trade (now the

Plekhanov Russian University of Economics The Plekhanov Russian University of Economics () is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. It was founded in 1907 by entrepreneur Alexei Vishnyakov as the first finance-specialized college in the Russian Empire. In addition to accr ...

), majoring in labor economics. In 1989-1991 he was the director of the car rental department at Rozek-Car. In August 1991 he founded his own company ROLF Group. In 2004 he resigned as the President of the Company and handed control over to employed managers. He was still responsible for ROLF's long-term development strategy. On December 2, 2007, he was elected to the State Duma on the lists of the political party Spravedlivaya Rossiya. On December 4, 2011, he was re-elected as a deputy of the State Duma from the Spravedlivaya Rossiya, as a member of the State Duma of the V and IV convocations, he was a member of the Committee on Budget and Taxes. On October 5, 2016, he ended his term as a deputy of the State Duma of the VI convocation. As a deputy of the State Duma, he voted against the adoption of the Dima Yakovlev Law and the adoption of the « Yarovaya Package», he is known for his critical statements against the Russian government. On June 27, 2019, police searches and seizures of documents were carried out in the offices of the ROLF Group. According to the press-office of the Investigative Committee, Sergey Petrov and a number of top-managers of the company are suspected under part 3 of Article 193.1 of the Criminal Code (committing currency transactions to transfer funds in foreign currency or the currency of the Russian Federation to the accounts of non-residents using forged documents) and allegedly illegally transferring 4 billion rubles to the accounts of one of the companies owned by Sergey Petrov. Sergey Petrov denied all the charges, calling the charges not consistent with the norms of law. Petrov linked the searches either to an attempt to raid the company, whose turnover in 2018 amounted to almost 230 billion rubles, or to political revenge for his position in the State Duma and support for the opposition. Sergey Petrov also said that he is not going to return to Russia in the near future. In July 2019, on his own initiative, he resigned from the Board of Directors of ROLF Group. On September 6, 2019, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation declared Petrov on the international wanted list in the case of the withdrawal of 4 billion rubles abroad. In November 2019, Petrov announced his intention to sell the company ROLF and the formation of a closed list of applicants for the purchase of a car dealer. As a result, the transaction did not take place.

Wealth

Sergey Petrov's wealth according to Forbes by year: * 51st place in Russian

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

list, 2009; * 50th place in «Vlast I Dengi» ("State and money") list, 2010; * 114-th place in «200 richest businessmen in Russia» in Russian FORBES list, 2019. The entrepreneur's fortune was estimated at $ 900 million.

Personal life

Married, has two children – sons Alexey and Alexander. Petrov is an alpine

skier Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International ...

, a

cyclist Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

and a collector of Russian-Japanese War ship models. He lives permanently in Austria.

Views on business in Russia

Political views

References