Baumgertner, Vladislav Arturovich

Born in 1972 in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg). In 1994 he graduated from the Ural State Technical University with a degree in Electrical Stations. From 1996 to 1998, he worked at the ABB international concern, where he completed his duties as general director of the ABB Moselectroshchit JV, then renamed to ABB Power Systems ^[3] .

In 2000, he received an MBA from Kingston Business School, and in 2003, an MSC degree in Financial Management from the University of London .

Since 2003, as a commercial director of OJSC Uralkali . From 2005 to 2010, he held the position of General Director of the company, and from 2004 to 2008 also the President of the company. Since 2004, he has been a member of the Board of Directors of Uralkali. From 2005 to 2011, he was a member of the Supervisory Board of the Belarusian Potash Company (BPC) , from 2011 to the present, he is chairman of the Supervisory Board of this company. In 2006, he joined the Board of Directors of Silvinit OJSC , in 2010 he was appointed General Director of this company. In February 2011, Baumgertner was appointed Director General of OJSC Uralkali.

In July 2013, Baumgertner announced the withdrawal of Uralkali from a partnership with Belaruskali (which began unauthorized independent sales of potash fertilizers, which led to a collapse in product prices ^[7] ) and the termination of exports through a joint trader - BKK. Against the background of Belarusian dumping, Uralkali-Trading was identified as the sole export channel. Commenting on this step, Baumgertner explained: “We regret to say that our cooperation with Belarusian partners in the framework of the BPC has reached a dead end.” According to him, Uralkali, in the interest of maintaining the level of prices for potash fertilizers, has always insisted that export sales of both manufacturers be carried out through a single distribution network ^[8] .

On November 29, 2013, he was re-elected to the Board of Directors of Uralkali ^[9] .

On December 24, 2013, he was relieved of his post of Director General of Uralkali ^[10] .

On August 26, 2013 , while in Belarus at the invitation of Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich , Baumgertner was arrested on charges of a crime under Art. 424 of the Criminal Code of Belarus “Abuse out of selfish interest” ^[11] , in damaging $ 100 million to Belaruskali and the Belarusian Potash Company (BPC) ^{[5] [12]} .

He arrived, jerk, he is invited by the Prime Minister. He sat foot by foot and declares: there will not be this, there will not be this. He went out, spat on the Government House and at the airport laughing. And there it is ...

- President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko on the circumstances of the arrest of Baumgertner ^[13]

Similar charges were brought against business partner Baumgertner, the Russian senator and former Uralkali shareholder Suleiman Kerimov , and he was put on the international wanted list. According to the charges, Baumgertner and Karimov were threatened in Belarus with up to 10 years in prison with confiscation of property ^[14] .

In connection with Baumgertner’s detention, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Igor Shuvalov and Arkady Dvorkovich spoke in harsh criticism about the actions of the Belarusian law enforcement agencies. The Government of Russia called what happened in Minsk “strange, non-partner and inadequate”, they warned that some issues of cooperation between the two countries could be reviewed ^[15] .

On August 30, Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov demanded the immediate release of Baumgertner; on September 6, the Russian Foreign Ministry demanded unconditional and immediate release of Baumgertner ^[16] .

On September 6, a court in Minsk denied the arrest complaint and left Baumgertner in custody. ^[12]

According to the Voice of America radio station, the scandal surrounding the arrest of the head of Uralkali could escalate into another trade war between Russia and Belarus ^[17] . The business portal of RBC described the arrest of Baumgertner as a hostage-taking ^[14] .

On September 10, President of Belarus A. Lukashenko , commenting on the situation around Uralkali top managers, said that “ due to the indecent actions of these Russian villains, we have certain problems with the sale of potash fertilizers ” ^[18] .

On September 11, Rosneft’s president Igor Sechin , the first major Russian business man to meet with Lukashenko in Minsk after Baumgertner’s arrest, explained that the Uralkali case does not affect relations with Belarus. The head of Gazprom , Alexei Miller ^{[19] [20] [21],} also sees no problems. On September 15, it became known that while Baumgertner was waiting for his part in the pre-trial detention center of the KGB of Belarus, Rosneft will fight for Kerimov's stake in Uralkali, which St. Petersburg banker Vladimir Kogan also claims for ^[22] . According to the terms of the Belarusian side, voiced by lawyer Alexander Dobrovinsky , as soon as Karimov sells his stake in Uralkali, Baumgertner will be able to gain freedom and return to Russia. From these facts, experts conclude that bargaining has unfolded around the figure of Baumgertner, and the meaning of his arrest consists mainly in the redistribution of shares of Uralkali ^{[23] [21]} .

On September 19, in anticipation of the planned meeting with V. Putin, the President of Belarus A. Lukashenko announced that Baumgertner could be extradited to Russia in the near future for carrying out investigative actions ^[24] .

On September 23, in Sochi, Putin and Lukashenko discussed the situation around Baumgertner and Uralkali ^[25] .

On September 26, a month after the arrest, Baumgertner was released from the pre-trial detention center under house arrest and kept in a rented apartment in Minsk under round-the-clock surveillance by operatives of the KGB of Belarus ^[26] . Lukashenko explained that the transfer to house arrest was made at the request of Baumgertner’s mother ^[27] .

On September 26, the Uralkali labor collective appealed to President of Belarus Lukashenko with a request to take measures to speedily release Baumgertner. The appeal was signed by about 6 thousand employees of the company ^[28] .

On October 11, Lukashenko said that the accusation to Baumgertner was reclassified to an theft article ^[29] . On the same day, materials on the criminal case of Baumgertner came from Minsk to the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation ^[30] .

On October 14, a criminal case was opened against Baumgertner in Russia ^[31] . On October 17, the Basmanny Court of Moscow decided to arrest Baumgertner in absentia and put him on the international wanted list ^[32] . Thus, the necessary procedures are provided for by Russian and international legislation for the extradition of a citizen ^{[33] [34]} .

On October 21, Lukashenko announced that Baumgertner could be returned to Russia in exchange for compensation to Belarus for the damage estimated by the president at 1.5-2 billion dollars ^{[35] [36]} .

On October 25 in Minsk, after the annual meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, Putin and Lukashenko discussed the situation around Baumgertner face-to-face ^[37] .

On October 28, it became known that Baumgertner’s arrest in Belarus was extended for another 2 months ^[27] .

On November 21, two days after S. Kerimov sold 21.75% of Uralkali’s shares to Mikhail Prokhorov , the Belarusian prosecutor’s office agreed to extradite Baumgertner to Russia ^[38] . On the same day, the businessman was handed over to the law enforcement agencies of Russia, and the “ransom” was not paid ^[39] . He was placed in jail No. 5 “Vodnik” on Vyborgskaya Street in Moscow ^[40] . On December 10, taking into account the identity of the accused, the court transferred to house arrest ^[41] .

On April 2, 2014, Belarus withdrew a request to Interpol to search for Baumgertner in connection with his criminal prosecution in Russia ^[42] .

On November 22, 2013, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation charged Baumgertner with part 3 of Art. 33, part 2, article 201 of the Criminal Code (abuse of authority). According to the Investigative Committee, "the accused, performing managerial functions in commercial organizations, abused his powers, using them contrary to the legitimate interests of these organizations and in order to derive benefits and advantages for others." These acts, according to the prosecution, caused significant harm and grave consequences for the joint Russian-Belarusian venture “Belarusian Potash Company” and for “Belaruskali” ^[43] .

According to a court order, Baumgertner was placed under house arrest from November 2013 to October 14, 2014 ^[44] .

On September 17, 2014, Baumgertner was released by the court from house arrest on bail in the amount of 15 million rubles ^[45] .

On February 20, 2015, the criminal case against Baumgertner was discontinued due to the lack of corpus delicti in his actions ^[46] .

From August 2015 Baumgertner to March 2017 worked as CEO of the port company Global Ports ^[47] . His functions included ensuring business development in accordance with the long-term strategy of the group with a focus on operational and economic efficiency. Since March 2017, he headed the Swiss company Alevo, which develops energy storage technologies ^[48] . On August 18, Alevo's manufacturing units in Concord, North Carolina, USA filed for bankruptcy ^[49] .

Married, two children.

• Biography of Vladislav Baumgertner on the website of Uralkali
• Criminal proceedings were instituted against a number of senior employees of BKK CJSC , belta.by, August 26, 2013