Viatcheslav Kantor

Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor (Russian: Вячеслав Моше Кантор,[1] born on September 8, 1953, in Moscow) is a Russian businessman.

Viatcheslav Kantor
Вячеслав Кантор
Kantor in the Palace of Nations, Geneva
Kantor in June 2009 in Geneva, Switzerland.
Born
Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor
Вячеслав Моше Кантор

(1953-09-08) September 8, 1953
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
NationalityRussian
Citizenship
EducationMoscow Aviation Institute (diploma, 1976)
Moscow Aviation Institute (PhD, 1981)
OccupationBusinessman
SpouseAnna Kantor
Children5
Websitemoshekantor.com

Kantor was President of the European Jewish Congress, President of the World Holocaust Forum Foundation (WHF), Chairman of the European Jewish Fund (EJF), and Chairman of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) Policy Council.[2][3]

Early life and education

Kantor was born and spent his early years in Moscow, and obtained a degree from the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI) in 1976 and did research for MAI and NPO Spektr. In 1981, he completed his PhD in Spacecraft Automatic Control Systems. He worked as a scientist and headed one of MAI research laboratories.

Career

In 1989–1993, Kantor was Director General of Intelmas, a telecoms company. In 1996–2000 he was an economic adviser to the Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federal Assembly.

Kantor heads the Acron Group, one of the leading mineral fertilizer producers and distributors in the world.[4] He has close ties to the Vladimir Putin regime in Russia.[5][6][7][8][9]

Sanctions

Kantor was sanctioned by association by the British government in March 2022 in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[10][11] Consequently University College School has decided to review the name of its sports pavilion which is named after Kantor.[12][13]

Civic activities

Kantor was President of the European Jewish Congress. The EJC, the largest secular organization representing the interests of European Jewry, is an influential, international public association representing 2.5 million Jews across the European continent in 42 national Jewish communities.

In 2021, he was reelected Chairman of the Policy Council of the World Jewish Congress for the third time[14][15][16] Kantor is a Vice President of the Jewish Leadership Council.[17] In 2010, he established the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University.[18][19] In 2019, Yad Vashem nominated Moshe Kantor as Chancellor of the Council, and before it he served as its Member of Directorate since 2010.[20] Kantor was President of the Russian Jewish Congress (RJC) in 2005–2009. He founded and headed the World Holocaust Forum (WHF) in 2005. He is a founder and chairman of the European Jewish Fund (EJF), established in 2006.

He has chaired the World Holocaust Forum Foundation.[21][22] In 2020, the World Holocaust Forum organized by Kantor came under controversy after Vladimir Putin was allowed to give a speech that distorted the history of the Soviet Union in World War II.[9][8] The forum refused to allow Polish President Andrzej Duda to have a speaking slot.[9][8]

He is the founder and president of President of the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation (ECTR).

In 2007, Kantor founded and was elected president of the International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe, an international non-governmental organisation uniting leading world-renowned experts on nuclear non-proliferation, materials and delivery vehicles. The Forum was established pursuant to a decision of the International Conference held in Luxembourg on May 24–25, 2007. The conference was attended by over 50 renowned experts from 14 countries, including Sergey Kirienko, Director General of the Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation, Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Nikolay Laverov, Academician and Vice President of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), William Perry, former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Defense, and Hans Blix, Chairman of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission and former Director General of the IAEA.

Personal life

Kantor is married to Anna Kantor and has four sons and a daughter. Kantor is a citizen of Russia, the United Kingdom and Israel.[23][24][25]

Kantor bought a violin made by the Italian violin maker Riccardo Antoniazzi in 1912. The violin has been given as a First Prize of the 2nd International Violinists Vladimir Spivakov Contest. Its price was $140,000.[26]

Kantor is a trustee and Life President of the Anna Freud Centre (London, UK).[27][28] Kantor was previously a patron of King Solomon High School (London, UK).[29] Kantor supported the development of the school which is a Jewish Comprehensive school based in Redbridge.[30]

Kantor has been a benefactor of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden Foundation since 2013, in which capacity he has facilitated various projects.[31]

Kantor was appointed Life Governor and Trustee of the King Edward VII's Hospital in London after his charitable foundation funded the redevelopment of the site adjacent to the hospital, Macintosh House, which was subsequently renamed the Kantor Medical Centre.[32][33]

Kantor is president of the Museum of Avant-Garde Mastery (MAGMA),[34] founded in 2001 in Moscow on Kantor's initiative.

In 2018, President of the Russian Academy of Arts and People's Artist of the URSS Zurab Tsereteli officially awarded Kantor as the President of MAGMA Museum with the robe and diploma of Honorary Member of the Russian Academy of Arts.[35]

Honors and awards

Kantor received the following government awards: Order of Friendship (Russia, 1998), Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit (Poland, 2005), Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (Ukraine, 2006), Order of Leopold (Belgium, 2009), Chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honour (France, 2012), Knight's Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Italy, 2013), Grand Cross with honours of the National Order of Merit (Romania, 2014), Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honour (France, 2014, presented in 2015), The Order of Honour (Russia, 2016), Officer of the Order of the Crown (Belgium, 2020) and Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria (Austria, 2021).[36]

He is an honorary citizen of Veliky Novgorod (1997)[37] and Honorary Member of the Russian Academy of Arts.[38]

In addition, he received an honorary doctorate from Tel-Aviv University (2004)[39] and the Medal of Merit "Deserved for Tolerance" by the Ecumenical Foundation Tolerance (2011).

Kantor has been recognized for seven consecutive years as one of the '50 Most Influential Jews in the World'.[40]

In 1997, Viatcheslav Kantor was named Honorary Citizen of Veliky Novgorod.[41]

See also

References
  1. Rebel, Alina (September 3, 2020). History of the Jews in Russia (in Russian). Litres. p. 249. ISBN 978-5-457-53661-6. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
  2. "Moshe Kantor to head WJC Policy Council".
  3. "Ron Lauder re-elected as WJC president". Ynetnews. May 8, 2013 – via www.ynetnews.com.
  4. "Acron Group's Output Up 7% in 2020". www.acron.ru.
  5. Pfeffer, Anshel (February 1, 2016). "How Putin's Man Made His Way to the Top of European Jewry". Haaretz. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
  6. . Kantor heads the Acron Group, one of the leading mineral fertilizer producers and distributors in the world. In 2021, Forbes estimated Kantor's net worth at US$7.6 billion<ref name="auto">"Viatcheslav Kantor". Forbes.
  7. "Holocaust row seethes as leaders gather in Israel". BBC News. January 22, 2020. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
  8. Scollon, Michael (February 7, 2020). "Dim The Lights And Cue The Revisionism: Russia Turns Holocaust Remembrance Into Political Theater". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
  9. Correspondent, Catherine Philp, Diplomatic. "Vladimir Putin's Holocaust speech rewrote history, museum admits". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved March 15, 2022.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. Coughlan, Sean (March 6, 2022). "Queen's hospital donor placed on UK's Russia sanctions list". BBC News. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  11. "Moshe Kantor, president of the Jewish Congress, sanctioned by the U.K government for his ties to Putin's 'war economy'". EJP. April 6, 2022. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
  12. Lister-Fell, Frankie (April 8, 2022). "School 'reviews' sports pavilion name after oligarch sanctioned". Hampstead Highgate Express. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
  13. "CONSOLIDATED LIST OF FINANCIAL SANCTIONS TARGETS IN THE UK" (PDF). Retrieved April 16, 2023.
  14. Congress, World Jewish. "World Jewish Congress". World Jewish Congress.
  15. "EJC President Moshe Kantor re-elected as Chairman of World Jewish Congress' Policy Council". Archived from the original on August 26, 2017. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
  16. Congress, World Jewish. "World Jewish Congress". World Jewish Congress.
  17. "Vice Presidents". Jewish Leadership Council. Retrieved September 2, 2019.
  18. "'Holocaust didn't erase Jewish life'". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com.
  19. "World's 50 most influential Jews". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com.
  20. "Mr. & MRS. Moshe Kantor, Russia".
  21. Hendrix, Steve; Eglash, Ruth; Parker, Ashley (January 23, 2020). "World leaders convene in Jerusalem to remember Holocaust and counter anti-Semitism". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 27, 2022.
  22. About the Fifth World Holocaust Forum
  23. "Viatcheslav Kantor". Forbes. Retrieved March 3, 2023.
  24. "Just Don't Call Them Gaydamak: Meet Israel's Russian Oligarchs". Haaretz. Retrieved March 3, 2023.
  25. Elgot, Jessica; Jolly, Jasper (April 6, 2022). "Moshe Kantor: UK sanctions Russian billionaire over ties to Putin". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved March 3, 2023.
  26. Bashinform, September 17, 2018, "The Winner of the Vladimir Spivakov Contest Will Get a Violin for $140,000"
  27. "Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families". www.annafreud.org.
  28. "Trustees of Anna Freud Centre".
  29. "Home". Kantor King Solomon High School.
  30. Davis, Alex. "King Solomon school changes name in Jewish leader's honour". www.jewishnews.co.uk.
  31. "Boards and Committees". www.roh.org.uk.
  32. "King Edward VII's Hospital. Annual Report and Financial Statements" (PDF).
  33. Baxendale, Barney. "Our Team".
  34. Museum of Avant-Garde Mastery
  35. "President of the Museum of Avant-Garde Mastery Viatcheslav Kantor elected Honorary Member of the Russian Academy of Arts".
  36. "Grapevine November 12: Yet another honor". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
  37. "Реш. Новгородской городской Думы от 12/10/1997 №272 "О присвоении звания "Почетный гражданин Новгорода""".
  38. "З. К. Церетели вручил регалии почётного члена Российской академии художеств Вячеславу Кантору и Марине Лошак". www.rah.ru. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  39. Tel Aviv University Webflash – May 2004
  40. "The Jerusalem Post's 50 most influential Jews". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
  41. "Honorary Citizens of Veliky Novgorod at the City Administration website – Viatcheslav Kantor – 08.09.1953". Archived from the original on April 10, 2017. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
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