Oleg Belaventsev

Oleg Yevgenyvich Belaventsev (; born 15 September 1949) is a Russian military figure and statesman. He has the military rank of Vice-admiral and the federal state civilian service rank of 1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation.

Biography Belaventsev served as an officer in the Russian Navy, rising to the rank of vice-admiral. He was the third Secretary for Science and Technology at the Soviet embassy in London. On 24 April 1985 Belaventsev was among six Soviet diplomats deported from the United Kingdom on suspicion of spying. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Belaventsev became deputy director of Rosvooruzhenie, Russia's primary arms trading agency. During his tenure, Belaventsev founded private companies that were awarded ministry contracts to implement international humanitarian projects. According to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Belaventsev's companies received hundreds of millions in state contracts from the government agencies where he was employed. His appointment coincided with the formation of the new federal district. Belaventsev is considered politically close to the Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu.

On 28 July 2016, the Crimean Federal District was abolished and merged into the Southern Federal District in order to "improve the governance". On the same day, Belaventsev was appointed the presidential envoy in North Caucasian Federal District. On 26 June 2018, he was replaced by Aleksandr Matovnikov.

Sanctions He was sanctioned by the UK government in 2014 in relation to the Russo-Ukrainian War.

He was soon added to the lists of people sanctioned by the European Union and United States for the Russian invasion of Crimea.