Potanin, Vladimir Olegovich (1961- )

Russian financier; deputy prime minister in 1996.

Educated in the elite Moscow State Institute for International relations, Potanin left the path of diplomatic service when it became obvious that the USSR was breaking up and set up a bank named Oneximbank - the foundation stone of his later wealth. By the mid-1990s, his interests included oil, nickel, investment banking, engineering, optics, and media holdings, and he entered into a partnership with British Petroleum (BP) to develop fields owned by his company Sidanco.

Second only to Boris Berezovsky in wealth, he was a close associate of Russia's privatization minister Anatoly Chubais and was brought into government in 1996 as deputy prime minister when the former's star was at its height. However, Potanin lost out in an internal power struggle with Berezovsky, and returned to tend his business empire.