TRADE WARS
Silicon Valley billionaire Milner renounces Russian citizenship
by AFP Staff Writers
San Francisco (AFP) Oct 11, 2022

Billionaire Silicon Valley investor Yuri Milner said Monday he had renounced his Russian citizenship.

"My family and I left Russia for good in 2014, after the Russian annexation of Crimea. And this summer, we officially completed the process of renouncing our Russian citizenship," the Moscow-born Milner tweeted.

Milner, founder of the internet investment firm DST Global and one of the original investors in Facebook, has been an Israeli citizen since 1999, DST Global said in a fact sheet on its website.

The venture capitalist and physicist has no assets in Russia and 97 percent of his wealth was created elsewhere, it said.

"Yuri has never met Vladimir Putin, either individually or in a group," it said.

Milner's non-profit Breakthrough Prize Foundation has condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"As the terrible war in Ukraine continues, with casualties and atrocities mounting, the Breakthrough Prize Foundation strongly condemns Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its unprovoked and brutal assaults against the civilian population," it said in a statement in March.

Milner's foundations have donated at least $11 million to help refugees from Ukraine and scientists forced to flee the country, according to DST Global.

Milner and the late British cosmologist Stephen Hawking in 2016 announced an ambitious space initiative for a mission to Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system to Earth, using tiny light-propelled, ultra-light space vehicles, or "nanocraft".

The pair also teamed up to launch a massive search for intelligent extraterrestrial life in a $100-million, 10-year project to scan the heavens, funded by Milner.

bur-mtp/cwl

Meta


Related Links
Global Trade News

TRADE WARS
Hong Kong leader says he 'laughs off' US sanctions
Hong Kong (AFP) Oct 11, 2022
Hong Kong's leader laughed off US sanctions against him Tuesday as he defended his government's decision not to act against a superyacht reportedly owned by a Kremlin ally. The Nord - a $500 million luxury vessel linked to Russian billionaire Alexei Mordashov - arrived in the Chinese territory's waters last week. Mordashov is among the oligarchs close to Russian President Vladimir Putin who have been targeted by Western sanctions following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. On Saturday the Unit ... read more

Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

TRADE WARS
Lockheed Martin delivers 700th THAAD interceptor

Biden promises Zelensky advanced air defense systems

Germany says air defence shield to reach Ukraine 'in days'

Lockheed Martin's next gen interceptor achieves communications testing milestone

TRADE WARS
Lockheed Martin's next-gen rocket performs first Systems Qualification Flight Test

'Horrible and cruel': Kyiv residents shocked after heavy Russian strikes

Failed missile launch triggers panic in South Korean city

N.Korea conducts third ballistic missile launch in 5 days

TRADE WARS
Team V-BAT offers a proven tactical UAS solution for RCN ISTAR

NASA's upgraded Mobile Mission Control Center to analyze Advanced Air Mobility flight tests

Iranian drones bring back fear for Ukrainians

Outpost completes successful flight tests of their autonomous paraglider

TRADE WARS
SIMBA Chain awarded SpaceWERX Orbital Prime Contract

Viasat to sell its Link 16 Tactical Data Links business to L3Harris Technologies

HawkEye 360 awarded radio frequency contract by NRO

Spire Global awarded NRO contract for radio frequency data

TRADE WARS
Homemade 'DIY' weapons boost Ukraine war arsenal

Soviet-era rocket launchers still serving on Ukraine frontline

In the Ukrainian army, Soviet-era artillery bows out

Germany military must become Europe's 'best equipped': Scholz

TRADE WARS
US ammunition supplies dwindle as Ukraine war drains stockpiles

France creates 100-mn-euro fund for Ukraine to buy arms

Norway seeks to up defence spending over Ukraine war

One killed, two missing in Bulgaria arms factory blast

TRADE WARS
Russian, US troops in Syria share 'rare moment' of congeniality

Putin 'in a corner' with options narrowing

Nobel-winning Ukraine NGO chief says Putin should face 'tribunal'

Hong Kong to not enforce sanctions on megayacht linked to Putin ally

TRADE WARS
New system designs nanomaterials that conduct heat in specific ways

Physicists generate new nanoscale spin waves

'Naturally insulating' material emits pulses of superfluorescent light at room temperature

Making nanodiamonds out of bottle plastic