Yumashev and his wife Tatyana Yumasheva (Yeltsin’s own daughter) are considered the architects of the transfer of power from the first president of Russia to acting. Putin.
This thesis is confirmed both by the recollections of people close to the Kremlin elite in the late 90s and early 2000s, and by the recollections (interviews, blogs) of the Yumashev spouses.
In 1999, Yumashev initiated the appointment of Vladimir Putin as Prime Minister of Russia, and before that he promoted Putin during his career in the administration of President Yeltsin. Yumashev played a key role in the fact that it was Putin who became Yeltsin’s successor as president, remained loyal to Putin and served as his adviser on a voluntary basis for twenty years.
According to the Project publication, Yumashev attended an informal meeting at the Ozero cooperative. The first group of people, in essence, handed over the country to the control of the second. The first is known in the press as Yeltsin’s “family” (it included the president’s daughter Tatyana Dyachenko and his son-in-law Valentin Yumashev). The second was the future President Putin and his inner circle,
members of the Ozero cooperative - Yuri Kovalchuk, Sergei and Andrey Fursenko, Vladimir Yakunin and some others.
In one of his interviews, Yumashev noted: “Still, I considered myself to some extent responsible for Putin, because I invited him to work, I promoted him, I introduced him to Boris Nikolaevich.”
Connections with Kremlin oligarchs
In addition to his connections with the Kremlin establishment, Yumashev has long had close relations with Russia’s largest oligarchs under sanctions, and received remuneration from them in the form of significant corporate gifts. It is believed that the assets he acquired were rewarded for representing the interests of the relevant business structures in the Kremlin government offices.
Connections with sanctioned Deripaska and Potanin
Yumashev’s daughter was married to oligarch Oleg Deripaska for a long time (since 2001).
In 2010, Deripaska gave Yumashev a stake in En+ Group, the main company of his aluminum holding. Polini's daughter got about 7% of the group's shares. Since 2018, Deripaska has been officially divorced from his daughter Yumasheva.
It is known that in 2021, Polina Yumasheva sold 2.6% of the energy company En+ to the Emirati investment fund Mubadala Investment. Its share dropped to 2.58%. Valentin Yumashev, who was also looking for a buyer for his share, did not sell his shares. According to Yumashev himself, he owns 1.6% of the shares of En+ Group, where he worked since the creation of the group and received these shares as remuneration.
It is also known that Yumashev participated in concluding a shareholder agreement for Norilsk Nickel. Later, he was to become a mediator in a new conflict between Norilsk Nickel shareholders, namely between Vladimir Potanin’s Interros (34% of shares) and Oleg Deripaska’s Rusal (27.8%).
Connections with sanctioned Usmanov
In September 2020, Yumashov was mentioned in documents of the US Treasury department for combating financial crimes. Advisor to the Russian President Valentin Yumashev, according to FinCEN files, received $6 million from Epion Holdings Limited from the British Virgin Islands. It belongs to Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov. According to suspicious transaction reports, the money was transferred under a “services” agreement from 2006 to 2008.
Connections with sanctioned Abramovich
Yumashev continues to actively represent the interests of the Kremlin oligarchs and the Russian elite, as evidenced by his meeting with Abramovich in 2023.