Len Blavatnik Severs His $37 Billion Fortune From Russian Roots

Len Blavatnik calls himself foremost a self-made billionaire. The Ukraine-born British-American, by his own telling, is also a media mogul, a tech titan, a pioneering real estate investor and an industrialist.

But above all, what Blavatnik has always strived to make clear: He has no connections to Vladimir Putin or Russian politics, and he absolutely should not be described as an oligarch. He’s not even Russian.

Despite his long tradition of distancing himself from Russia, Sir Leonard (he was knighted in the UK for his philanthropy) seeded his massive fortune with winnings from the so-called “aluminum wars” and Siberian oilfields. ...