Kathrine Frich
At just 21 years old, Daria Marchenko has stepped into the spotlight of Russia’s political and financial elite.
According to investigative outlet Verstka, Marchenko has taken over two companies linked to her father, pro-Russian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, a longtime ally of Vladimir Putin.
The young businesswoman officially became CEO of Rad-Ev and Almirida Investments on February 13.
Billions in assets, no active business
As of the end of 2024, the combined assets of the two companies were valued at approximately 2.9 billion rubles. Despite the impressive figure, both firms are reportedly operating at a loss.
Verstka reports that the companies do not carry out operational activities. Instead, they are believed to function as holding structures designed to protect and manage Medvedchuk’s assets.
Until recently, the companies were owned by Renaissance, a joint-stock company controlled by Medvedchuk’s wife, Oksana Marchenko.
In 2023, during the ongoing war in Ukraine, a luxury Pershing 9X yacht valued at around 900 million rubles was registered under the two firms.
A powerful family connection
Daria Marchenko is the daughter of Viktor Medvedchuk, a controversial Ukrainian politician widely described as one of Putin’s closest allies in Ukraine. The Russian president is reportedly her godfather.
Medvedchuk fled house arrest in Ukraine in February 2022 shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion began.
He was later captured by Ukrainian security services and eventually exchanged in a prisoner swap involving defenders of the Azovstal steel plant.
He is currently believed to be involved in Russia’s fuel industry.
Marchenko graduated with a degree in management from Moscow’s Higher School of Economics and has reportedly lived in Moscow since 2021.
Her appointment places a member of Putin’s inner circle’s next generation at the helm of companies controlling billions in assets.
Source: Verstka, O2.
