Sergei Pugachev

Sergei Viktorovich Pugachev, also spelled Sergey Pugachyov (French: Sergueï Pougatchev; Russian: Сергей Викторович Пугачёв; born 4 February 1963), is a Russian-born French business magnate. He is a doctor of technical sciences and a member of the International Engineering Academy.

Pugachev moved to the United States in 1994. Before that, he lived primarily in France and the United Kingdom. He has major real estate development projects in the United States, France, Luxembourg, Russia and the United Kingdom.

At the start of the 2000s, Pugachev gained a reputation in the Russian mass media for allegedly having introduced Russia's new president Vladimir Putin to the governor of the Sretensky Monastery in central Moscow, Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov, with whom Pugachev had been in close relationship as a major sponsor of the monastery.

Pugachev was born into a Russian military family. His father, Viktor Fyodorovich Pugachev (29 May 1930 – 2010), was a student in the first class of the Kiev Suvorov Military School. He was awarded Commander of the order of Red Star and held command positions in airborne troops. He was the first commander of 21st Paratrooper brigade. He retired as Deputy Chief of the department of general tactics and operational art of the Military Academy. He died in 2010.

Pugachev's paternal grandfather was Fyodor Kuzmich Pugachev (1892 – 25 June 1942), an officer of the Tsarist army who fought in the First World War as staff Officer of the 4th Nesvizhsky Grenadier Regiment of Field Marshal Prince Barclay de Tolly. In the Soviet era, he held command positions in the Red Army. In July 1918, as the Commander of the 1st Don Soviet Infantry Division, he led the fighting against the troops of General Krasnov on the northern side of the Tsaritsyn Front. He was awarded Cavalier of the order of the Red banner. He was not involved in the Communist party. He later held positions of command in the Red Army. In his 30s, he was arrested. On 19 November 1941, he was appointed as commander of 22nd Separate Infantry Brigade as part of the second Shock Army of the Volkhov Front. He died near Myasnoi Bor.

Pugachev's maternal grandfather was Konstantin Timofeevich Klochkov (1906 – 9 September 1942). He held command positions in the Red Army. He was Commissar of 60 guards 20 guards in the rifle division.

Pugachev claimed to have defended 2 dissertations, including "Methods and investment policy of the management model of the bank" at the Russian Academy of Sciences. In October 2000, he defended the dissertation "Development of information technology for management of financial resources of credit organizations". According to official data, he was awarded Doctor of Technical Sciences. Pugachev wrote three monographs and authored more than forty research papers. Other sources found Pugachev's three diplomas and other facts of his biography to be fraudulent.

Pugachev is a member of the Russian Academy of Engineering (successor to the USSR Academy of Engineering) and engaged in "active work on the connection between science and production". From 1993, he repeatedly attracted Academy staff with expertise among the various projects.