Alexander Mashkevitch
Alexander Antonovich Mashkevich (Template:Lang-he; also transliterated Alexandr Mashkevic; Template:Lang-ru; born 23 February 1954) is a businessman and investor. He has major holdings and close political relationships in Kazakhstan. He holds both Kazakh and Israeli citizenship; according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, he usually travels on his Israeli passport and "rarely spends more than a week each month in Kazakhstan."<ref name="Krichevsky">Template:Cite web</ref>
Biography
Mashkevich was born in Frunze, Kyrgyz SSR, Soviet Union, in 1954. His father Anton, a doctor born in Lithuania, and his mother, Rakhel Yoffe, a lawyer born in Vitebsk, were evacuated to Kyrgyzstan in 1941.<ref name="tengrin"/> He is a graduate of Kyrgyz State University where he studied philology. Mashkevich started out an academic career but became a businessman during perestroika. Mashkevich, Patokh Chodiev, and Alijan Ibragimov form "the Trio," a group of Kazakh businessmen who became billionaires.<ref name="Krichevsky"/> The Trio gained control of the recently privatized chromium, alumina, and gas operations in Kazakhstan (some of the largest ones in the world).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
With his partners Chodiev and Ibragimov, Mashkevich helped to develop these assets, and is a major shareholder in Eurasian National Resources Corporation (ENRC), now one of the world's leading natural resources groups. ENRC, based in London, operates a number of metals assets in Kazakhstan and Africa, having acquired numerous mining operations in Eastern Europe and Africa. In 2009, ENRC generated a $1,462 million profit on sales of $3.8 billion.
ENRC was floated on the London Stock Exchange in December 2007, with a market capitalisation on Admission of approximately £6.8 billion.
Mashkevich served as president of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC) until 2011. The EAJC is one of the five regional branches of World Jewish Congress (WJC). In this capacity, he has visited a number of synagogues around the world and met with many prominent individuals. In 2002, Mashkevich had a private meeting with then-Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.<ref name="Galili">Template:Cite web</ref> In apparent consultation with Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, he asked his personal friend Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to intervene with Iran concerning Israeli soldiers captured by Hizbullah.<ref name="Galili"/> Also, while in Israel, Mashkevich "several times rather closely cooperated" with Kazakh Ambassador, now Deputy Foreign Minister, Kairat Abdurakhmanov.<ref name="Rozen">Template:Cite web</ref>
Mashkevich is one of the owners of Alferon Management. Based in London, Alferon Management has acquired mining operations in different places: Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Kosovo, Russia, and other countries.Template:Citation needed
As of 2010 he is on the Forbes list of billionaires at #287.
On April 6, 2011, Mashkevitch announced his intention to found a Jewish version of Al-Jazeera that will "represent Israel on an international level, with real information."<ref>Jerusalem Post: "Russian billionaire to found 'Jewish Al-Jazeera'" April 7, 2011</ref><ref>Jewish Journal: "Billionaire Mashkevich quits Euro-Asian Jewish Congress presidency" June 27, 2011</ref>
