Background and career
Vasily Anisimov (Croatian: Vasilij Anisimov; born 19 September 1951) is a Croatian billionaire businessman who made his fortune in Russia in a variety of industries, including aluminium, real estate and vodka production. He is also a former president of the Russian Judo Federation. In September 2022, he renounced his Russian citizenship. Anisimov is founder of real estate development company Coalco and is a former shareholder of Metalloinvest, a Russian industrial conglomerate, which consolidated in 2006 JSC Metalloinvest's assets (the Mikhailovsky GOK and the Ural Steel) with those of Gazmetall JSC (the Lebedinsky GOK and the Oskol Electrometallurgical Plant).
Anisimov graduated with a degree in economics from the Alma-Ata Institute of National Economy in 1977. After graduation he worked as a commodity expert and then became commercial director of the Kaztorgodezhda (Russian: «Казторгодежда») trading base in Kazakhstan. From 1982 to 1986 Anisimov was head of the working supply department of the Kalinin Nuclear Power Plant and then from 1986 to 1989, he served as general director of the Moscow-based hardware wholesaler, Roskhoztorg (Russian: «Росхозторг»). He recalled his activities as involving the sale of scarce goods, the presence of his own office and a personal car "Volga". Anisimov maintained personal relationships with officials, "everything was decided at the level of vodka. We went with the right person to some restaurant, drank and agreed on how to quickly go through bureaucratic processes ... " In 1989 Anisimov started Trust Company (Russian: «Траст»), a company exporting non-ferrous metals. The firm's special exporter status made it possible to trade with clientele in Western countries, and Anisimov developed his personal approach of accelerating bureaucratic procedures by taking the appropriate people to dinner. Trust received $1 million from each project, and in three years of work it built 24 brick factories. After Trust Company (Russian: «Траст») was rebranded as Transconsult (Russian: «Трастконсалт») and its company activities shifted into aluminium trading, Anisimov was General Director of CJSC Trasconsult from 1990-1994. This coincided with a turbulent time in Russian history with the privatisation of state-owned assets and fierce competition for control of the valuable aluminium industry. Transconsult acquired refineries and smelters including the Krasnoyarsk Aluminium Plant, the Achinsk Alumina Refinery and the Bratsk Aluminium Smelter. Anisimov's original goal had been to earn money and leave Russia for life in the west, "[when] privatisation began. I could not resist the temptation to become the owner of the enterprises with which I had already worked ... "
Anisimov's working methods were described by Dmitry Bosov, chairman of the board of Alltek investment:"There are people who are looking for conflicts, and there are people who, on the contrary, try to avoid them. Anisimov is just from the second breed. It was Vasily Vasilyevich who then put everyone in Krasnoyarsk at the negotiating table. It took him two months, after which all three groups of shareholders worked at the enterprise for two and a half years."Transconsult sold its assets to partner company Renova for an undisclosed sum in 2000.
Before 1999, he was on the Board of Directors of the July 1990 established Bidzina Ivanishvili associated Moscow based Rossiysky Credit Bank (Russian: ОАО АКБ «Российский кредит»).
In 2000, after being sued by fellow Russian billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Anisimov liquidated most of his assets. Anisimov re-emerged in 2004 as a co-owner of Metalloinvest with fellow billionaires Alisher Usmanov and Andrei Skoch. Anisimov had been friends with Usmanov since 1989, “I always informed Vasily about the appearance of certain major acquisitions.” Usmanov was reported as saying. Metalloinvest went on to become Russia's largest iron ore mining company. The company has three main businesses: iron ore, steel and scrap metal. In December 2004 Anisimov and Usmanov acquired 97.6% of Mikhailovsky GOK, in one of the largest private equity deals in Russian history. Negotiations were led by Anisimov. In 2005 the company took over Lebedinsky GOK, the largest supplier of hot-briquettes iron in Russia. Moldova Steel Works, the largest industrial plant in Transnistria was another Metalloinvest asset. It employed over 1000 workers and engineers and 90% of its products were exported abroad. The company was returned to the Transnistrian state in 2015. Anisimov eventually sold his 20% stake in the Metalloinvest to Russian bank VTB in 2011 citing the need for a change in The Moscow Times, "I am 59 years old, and I work 18 hours a day. I would like to spend more time with my family" Anisimov also stated he wanted to devote more time to his real estate development business interests. The stake was subsequently bought back by Metolloinvest in 2012. A subsequent court action brought by the family of the late Badri Patarkatsishvili in 2014 over part-entitlement to the 20% Metalloinvest share was settled out of court. Details of the settlement remained confidential.
Alongside his career in aluminium, Anisimov established Coalco in 1994. Coalco initially situated itself in the metals industry, including ownership of aluminium smelters, bauxite mines, semi-finished producers, cable plants, energy producers and cryolite plants. However, after Anisimov's break from the mining industry, Coalco moved into real estate. The company manages projects in residential and industrial real estate as well as managing land assets. Coalco own 37,000 acres of land in the Moscow region. On the banks of the Zlodeika (Russian: Злодейка) at the Domodedovsky District in the Moscow Oblast, Coalco built Akulinino (Russian: Акулинино) which is, similar to Rublyovka, a luxury residential development of 18,000 hectares (44,000 acres) located 35 kilometres (22 mi) from the Moscow Ring Road on the Kashirskoye Highway (Russian: Каширское шоссе). It was reported in 2015 that the company planned to build a multifunctional complex at Tsarskaya Square in Moscow of 280,500 square meters, at a cost of $430 million. The project was completed in two years. In 2015 Anisimov transferred Coalco assets totalling more than 1 million square meters to MR Group Management, retaining ownership of the land, with MR Group Management responsible for all ongoing and future development processes. Coalco also has maintains a presence in the New York City real estate market through Coalco New York, and subsidiary company Corigin Holdings building housing for students at New York University as well as acquisitions, development and property management. The company has a branch in Zürich.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
