Yuri Shafranik

Who is Yuri Shafranik?

Yuri Shafranik is a politician and entrepreneur in Russia. He is classified as the high-top expert on the energy sector. Yuri Shafranik has a doctorate in Economics. He is currently married and has two children: a daughter and a son. His personal interests include theatre, history, and travel.

Yuri Shafranik was born in 1952. He comes from a working family from a small village in the Tyumen Oblast, Russia. After graduating high school, he moved to Tyumen city and entered the Tyumen Industrial Institute, which he successfully graduated with two master’s degrees: electrical engineering and mining engineering in 1974 and 1980 accordingly. He defended his doctoral dissertation in 2006. The dissertation was devoted to conditions and economic mechanisms of rationalization of hydrocarbon resources development.

Yuri Shafranik had a highly fruitful professional development in the oil business in the former Soviet Union. He started as a mechanic in 1974 and already in 1987 was selected as the chief executive officer of the Langepasneftegaz, which was among the biggest oil manufacturers.

Yuri Shafranik started his work in politics in 1990 after being voted as the Chairman of the Tyumen Regional Council of People’s Deputies, which made him the youngest political leader at that time. He was among the few political leaders, whose thinking and strategic planning were not bound by the communist economic ideology. A year later, he was appointed as the Governor of the Tyumen Oblast. He served as the Minister of Energy from 1993 to 1996. At this position, Yuri Shafranik represented Russia in the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission's Energy Agreements that covered the questions of nuclear safety and the efficiency of Russian gas extraction. The results of the Agreements were later connected with environmental policies, especially with the problems of carbon costs and environmental contamination. He left politics in 1997. Yuri Shafranik played a key role in establishing the baseline of the market-based economy and democracy in Russia.

In 2000, Yuri Shafranik established the International Group of Companies “SoyuzNefteGaz” to conduct business in the gas and oil sector both in Russia and abroad. He has also founded several non-profit organizations.

Yuri Shafranik is the Co-Chair of the Russian delegation in the Dartmouth Dialogue. According to him, Dartmouth Dialogue is among the few remaining platforms for the US and Russia to communicate with others and compare their positions on the key issues. The Russian-American Working group openly addressed the government in 2019 – for the first time in many years. The delegates warned two states leaders that not extending the US-Russia Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START) might turn out to be a dangerous mistake.

Public democracy is among the activities that Yuri Shafranik supports strongly. He acts as an organizer and a chair for many international committees and conferences. For this work, he has been honored with the Order of Friendship of Peoples.