Andrey Melnichenko is the founder of fertiliser producer EuroChem and coal energy company SUEK. The son of a Soviet physicist, Melnichenko dropped out of college when the Soviet Union fell in 1991 to start a chain of currency exchange booths. Two years later, he founded MDM Bank, which became one of Russia's most successful private banks. Melnichenko's companies, which employ more than 100,000, have invested some $23 billion into fertiliser and coal production over the past 15 years. Melnichenko was sanctioned by the EU and UK in March 2022, and by the US in August 2022; he called the sanctions absurd and nonsensical and is disputing them. In 2022, Melnichenko's wife, Alexandra, became the beneficiary of a trust that holds stakes in EuroChem and SUEK.