Vladimir's Putin’s son-in-law given $1.7bn Russian state-backed loan

Kirill Shamalov married Putin’s youngest daughter on a ski resort in 2013

Putin's son-in-law has benefited massively from his family connections (IKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/AFP/Getty Images)

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s son-in-law Kirill Shamalov is set to benefit from a cheap loan of $1.75 billion from the state to fund a petrochemical project in which he has a signficiant interest.

The husband of Mr Putin’s youngest daughter Katerina Tikhonova is a major shareholder in Sibur, the largest petrochemical processor company in Russia. This month it received a state loan of $1.75 billion to build a new plant in Tobolsk, Siberia, otherwise known as ZapSibNeftekhim.

According to an investigation of public documents carried out by Reuters, the loan came cheap with an interest rate of 2 per cent and was acquired by issuing 15-year corporate bonds to the government, which were bought by the Russian National Wealth Fund.

Reuters reported that the National Wealth Fund was valued at $72 billion at the start of 2015 and mainly finances infrastructure projects, but Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev added the petrochemical plant to the list of projects in which the fund can invest in October, in order to reduce imports and create 15,000 jobs.

The loan makes up around a fifth of the total cost of the project at $9.5 billion. Sibur also borrowed over $3 billion from European banks.

Reuters said that after Shamalov married Mr Putin’s daughter on a ski resort in 2013, he acquired an £870 million loan from state-owned Gazprombank – his brother is Deputy Chairman – and increased his share in Sibur by five times. Sibur then invested more heavily in building the new plant.

There has been no suggestion of wrongdoing in the investigation, but it illustrates the rise to power thanks to Kremlin contacts.

Billionaire oil trader Gennady Timchenko, a friend of Mr Putin, is a major shareholder in Sibur.

Another connection is that Shamalov’s father, Nikolai Shamalov, was a co-founder of a Leningrad-region dacha cooperative called Ozero, along with Mr Putin. Another member of that cooperative, Yuri Kovlachuk, is co-owner of the ski resort where Mr Putin’s daughter and Kirill Shamalov got married.

Kirill Shamalov and Sibur have not been sanctioned, while Shamalov’s father was sanctioned by the US for benefitting from relations with Mr Putin and decision makers.

Mr Putin’s youngest daughter’s identity was only disclosed last month as the President has been extremely secretive about his family.