title: Hellblazer

text: Irish writer Garth Ennis then took over the title in 1991, again from "2000 AD", where he had been working on "Judge Dredd". He proceeded to write the second-longest run for any writer on the title. His take on the title was more personal than Jamie Delano's, with John's relationships coming to the fore. It also had a strong religious theme, with John's dealings with the First of the Fallen, and some storylines, such as the relationship between an angel, Tali, and a succubus demon, Ellie, would go on to be used again as a major plot device in "Preacher", one of his most popular works. He also references the music of The Pogues and the poetry of Brendan Behan, both of these being relevant to Ennis' Irish heritage.


title: Hellblazer

text: His run started with "Dangerous Habits" (41–46), which was the basis for the 2005 film "Constantine", and dealt with John Constantine contracting lung cancer, and the desperate deal he makes with the First of the Fallen, and various other lords of Hell, to save himself. In the course of trying to save himself, he visits Ireland, and later becomes reacquainted with Kit Ryan, an old friend of Irish origin. The following few issues follow the early stages of his relationship with Kit, a plot to install a demon on the British throne in the plotline "Royal Blood", and in the extended issue #50, his first meeting with the King of the Vampires. One minor story in this arc (issue #51) was written by guest writer John Smith.


title: Hellblazer

text: The next major arc, "Fear and Loathing" (issues 62–67), covers a high point of John's personal life, with his relationship with Kit going well, and a 40th birthday party where his friends Ellie, Zatanna, and the Swamp Thing attend, and use their various abilities to create a large quantity of Bushmills whiskey and marijuana. The story then takes him to his lowest point, through his dealings with the National Front, their threats towards Kit, and her leaving him to return to Ireland. Following this, John is defeated, and lives homeless on the streets, drinking to forget his life. This remains the case until the King of the Vampires hunts him out, and is poisoned by his demon blood, leaving him out in the sun at dawn, killing him. Following his recovery, the storyline "Damnation's Flame" (Issues #72–77) follows a trip to the US, where Constantine is put into an alternative America by his old adversary Papa Midnite, a Vodun shaman. He is accompanied by the spirit of JFK, who has to hold his brain in place from his infamous wound. He eventually learns how to escape, shortly before running into the First of the Fallen, in the guise of Abraham Lincoln. There then follows a small break where he meets the spirit of a dead friend in Dublin, offering some closure to his recent problems. Ennis' run ends with "Rake at the Gates of Hell", a story which finally brings together the racism storyline, with riots in Mile End, echoing the real-life Brixton and Broadwater Farm riots in London, the revenge attempt of the First of the Fallen, started in "Dangerous Habits", and the end of John's relationship with Kit Ryan. John's eventual Pyrrhic victory leaves this run with closure, and a relatively clean slate for a new writer to take over.


title: Hellblazer

text: Ennis briefly returned to the title in 1998 with "Son of Man", filling the gaps between Paul Jenkins's and Warren Ellis's runs on the title. This more irreverent story is about the consequences of Constantine resurrecting the dead son of an East London gangster, using the spirit of a demon. He also had two specials published during his run on the title, the "Hellblazer Special" and "Heartland", which follows Kit Ryan's return to Ireland.


title: Hellblazer

text: Following issue #84 by Jamie Delano and a brief interlude by "From Hell" artist Eddie Campbell (issues #85-88), the series' direction was taken over by Paul Jenkins in 1995. He had been the former editor of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" and other Mirage Studios lines. He had pitched to several comic houses, having tired of editing, and eventually managed to gain stewardship of "Hellblazer", the first largely untested writer to achieve this. Jenkins' run is more traditionally English in its themes, with Albion, Arthurian legend, and old English battles all featuring, and even an appearance by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and a speculative explanation of the writing of Kubla Khan, and what the interruption of the 'man from Porlock' may have been. He also returns to Jamie Delano's coverage of anarchist lifestyles, and the effects of the Criminal Justice Act of 1994, a controversial law which restricted the ability of the public to throw raves and large demonstrations.


title: Hellblazer

text: Major storylines in this run include "Critical Mass", where Constantine is forced to use magic to purge his darker side into another human body, to avoid being damned to Hell as part of a trade to save the possessed son of a friend, thus creating the antagonistic character, Demon Constantine, with the assistance of Aleister Crowley. The landmark hundredth issue gave more detail on John Constantine's father, and the abusive relationship that they had shared. However, it is unclear as to whether this is happening in reality, or in his mind as John convalesces in a coma. "Last Man Standing" reveals that his friend Rich is the current descendant of King Arthur, and Merlin's attempt to discover God's secret, an act which would destroy England, using John's few remaining friends as bait.


title: Hellblazer

text: The 10th-anniversary issue breaks from the usual format, in breaking the fourth wall, and addressing readers as if they are in a pub with Constantine for a monthly get-together to hear his stories. Over the course of the issue, most of the characters from Constantine's history appear, along with Death of the Endless from "Sandman". Also, appearances are made by writers and artists, including series creator Alan Moore, Garth Ennis, and Jenkins himself. Jenkins' run then draws to a close with two storylines, "Up the Down Staircase" and "How to Play With Fire", which relate the First of the Fallen's new plan, to essentially let mankind ruin itself through television and consumerism, and Ellie's plot to leave Constantine friendless and alone. John eventually saves himself, through a literal "deus ex machina", in a campfire conversation with God. However, at that time Rich and his family finally sever their friendship with John, and the latter ends the run alone.


title: Hellblazer

text: Warren Ellis took over the title in 1999, after his work on "Transmetropolitan" which had moved to the Vertigo imprint, following the closure of Helix Comics. He was meant to become a full-time writer for several years, as Delano, Ennis and Jenkins before him, but left the title early after DC refused to publish the story "Shoot", about high school shootings, following the Columbine High School massacre, despite the fact it had been written and submitted prior to the event. The story was finally published in 2010.


title: Hellblazer

text: His brief run began with "Haunted", a London-based story in which John investigates the brutal murder of a former girlfriend, Isabel by an Aleister Crowley style magician, Josh Wright. The story introduces, or reintroduces many characters who became an important part of the Hellblazer universe, including Inspector Watford (originally from Jamie Delano's run on the title), aging magician Clarice, and Map, a powerful magician who works on tube renovations in his part as custodian of London. The remainder of Ellis' brief tenure was taken up with single issue stories, collected as "Setting Sun".


title: Hellblazer

text: Following a brief interlude by Croatian writer Darko Macan, the series was then taken over by Brian Azzarello, once again hired on the strength of his own series for Vertigo, "100 Bullets". Azzarello's run is one large meta-story, that follows John Constantine on a trip across America, starting with his incarceration in prison, then variously uncovering a pornography ring, catching a serial killer, taking on a Neo Nazi group before finally dealing with the architect of his incarceration, Stanley W. Manor, a thinly-veiled pastiche of Batman. Brian Azzarello did return for one of the five stories in issue #250. This arc attracted minor controversy for its depiction of Constantine in a same-sex relationship.


title: Hellblazer

text: Following Azzarello's run, writer Mike Carey took over the title, following his Eisner award-winning title "Lucifer", set in the "Sandman" universe. Carey's run attempted to return John Constantine to his roots, with the title largely set back in London, and featuring many characters from former runs on the title. Mike Carey also has the honour of being the first Liverpudlian to write the Liverpudlian character. His was the second longest run by any single author on the title up to that time, second only to Garth Ennis, until Peter Milligan's run.


title: Hellblazer

text: The start of his run introduces Angie Spatchcock, a fellow magician, and reintroduces his niece, Gemma Constantine, who has also fallen into magic use, to her uncle's consternation. After ridding his sister's house of an evil spirit, and finding out Gemma has gone missing, John returns to London, to find his old colleagues and enemies are all taking sides in the hunt for a mythical item, known as the Red Sepulchre. John eventually locates the item, and finds Gemma, freeing her from his old enemy Josh Wright. Following several forewarnings, Constantine then travels the world to set up a plan for a forthcoming tragedy, which will occur when "Three doors are opened", involving Swamp Thing and the Garden of Eden amongst others.


title: Hellblazer

text: John's preparations have no effect, however, as he is tricked into killing the guardian that had been preventing the tragedy, freeing a beast which can control the collective unconsciousness of mankind. John Constantine cuts his own wrists, in order to free himself from consciousness, and plays a confidence trick on the beast, allowing his friends time to use the collective consciousness to rebuild the guardian that had kept the beast trapped. However, in this process, Swamp Thing has his human soul removed, setting up the fourth run of the comic, relaunched shortly afterward. In the process John loses his memory, setting up the events leading up to the 200th issue. Leading up to the landmark issue, John has little control over events, and is led along by a psychic serial killer, who threatens to kill Chas and his family, and a demon, Rosacarnis, who offers his memories back, at the cost of 24 hours in her service. John eventually gives into this offer, and the 200th issue shows how Rosacarnis manipulates his reality, making him raise three children with her, in the guise of Kit Ryan, from Garth Ennis's time on the title, Zed, from Jamie Delano's, and Angie, from the current run, with three different artists, Steve Dillon, Marcelo Frusin and Leonardo Manco each drawing one story, as the past, present and future of the title.


title: Hellblazer

text: Carey's final run followed the attempts of John's three new children attempting to kill all of his family and friends, culminating in the death of his sister, Cheryl, at the hands of her possessed husband. John then travels into Hell to try to rescue her soul, with the assistance of Rosacarnis's father, Nergal. The plan ultimately fails, and John returns broken, and intending to renounce magic.


title: Hellblazer

text: Mike Carey returned to the title for a single issue between Denise Mina and Andy Diggle's runs on the title, and also wrote the well-received "Hellblazer" graphic novel "All His Engines" about a strange illness sweeping the globe.


title: Hellblazer

text: Denise Mina had not written for comics when she took over the title in 2006, but had three acclaimed crime novels to her name, the Garnethill trilogy, the first of which won the CWA award for best debut crime novel. Her run on the title took John to Scotland, to attempt to stop a plot to make everybody empathise with each other. However, John fails to stop this, and, overwhelmed by the grief and horror they're forced to empathically share, suicides abound through the people of Glasgow. With help from Gemma Constantine, Angie Spatchcock and Chas Chandler, a plan to reverse the problem is made, as tension builds among the soldiers now surrounding the city. The soldiers keenly listen to a World Cup match between England and Portugal on the radio. When England loses the match, it seems all is lost, but the expected psychic riot fails to materialize. The soldiers are Scottish, so England's loss is celebrated, saving the day, and proving there's no source of joy like Schadenfreude.


title: Hellblazer

text: Andy Diggle, having previously written the "Hellblazer" special, "Lady Constantine", and Vertigo titles "The Losers" and "Swamp Thing", took over the title in 2007, another former writer for "2000 AD" to have done this. He left the title in 2009 after accepting an exclusive contract with Marvel.


title: Hellblazer

text: The run starts by introducing two main antagonists, an aging politician, who is using a strange portal to enter other people's minds and commit crimes, and Mako, a cannibalistic mage who devours other magicians in order to obtain their power. Constantine's attempt to play them off one another only succeeds in making them join forces in a further plot. Constantine then traps them both with considerable ease, and questions how this has been so easy. It then becomes apparent that he has been manipulated by the 'Golden Child', his twin who did not survive childbirth, and has been manipulating events for the whole of the series, including his battle with cancer and many other events. He declines his twin's offer to merge souls, suspicious that his twin has been weakening his will in past years to make him accept this offer, choosing instead to take control of his own destiny.


title: Hellblazer

text: Peter Milligan, a veteran of the Vertigo line, having written both "Shade, The Changing Man" and "Animal Man" at the publisher's inception (and another former "2000 AD" writer), then took over, starting with a short story in the landmark 250th issue, and taking over full-time following this. His run implemented several major changes, including John Constantine's wedding and the loss of his thumb.


title: Hellblazer

text: In a rare change, Milligan's run on the title starts with John living in domestic bliss with a nurse, Phoebe. Over the course of the first storyline, several new characters are introduced, including Epiphany Greaves, the alchemist daughter of a notorious London gangster, and Julian, a Babylonian demon. Over the course of the run, John dealt with a demon taking revenge on people involved in the Liverpool dockers' strike gone insane and sought help from Shade, The Changing Man, after chopping off his own thumb, seen Phoebe die at the hands of Julian, and traveled to India to try to find a way of saving her. Following this, he realised that he was in love with Epiphany, and married her in the 275th issue. However, the events of this wedding turned Constantine's niece Gemma against him, due to the Demon Constantine sexually assaulting her in the restroom. The strain of this traumatic incident turned her against John, and she enlisted the help of a coven of witches to kill him, which later came to a head when John was forced to fight off a brutal Demon summoned by them using John's iconic trenchcoat to target him.


title: Hellblazer

text: Afterwards, John's coat (which Gemma sold on eBay) began to manipulate its various new owners into murder, suicide, or other horrific acts until coming into the hands of a man from the U.S., who tried to kill John and Epiphany. During the time the coat was missing, John's magical abilities had begun to go out of control. John eventually resolves this, and he was re-united with his coat. Since this, Gemma and John have a very shaky relationship with one another, and she began a sexual relationship with Epiphany's crime-boss father Terry in order to "punish" John. When he confronted her about this relationship though, she told him that she would not stop unless he was able to retrieve her mother's soul from Hell. John agreed. In order to get his sister to leave Hell, John agreed to track down her son, his adopted nephew, in Ireland.


title: Hellblazer

text: On October 8, 2012, the series was announced as ending with issue 300, following which a new title, "Constantine", started at the main imprint of DC comics. By 2013, Constantine was contacted by the Three Fates, who tell him that he will finally meet his end in five days. Having lived a good and adventurous life, he happily accepts his fate rather than trying to fight it like he always does. When the last day came, Constantine was ambushed and shot in his own home right in front of a horrified Epiphany. After he died, Epiphany and Finn had an affair as a way to comfort each other. John's ghost saw them having sex in a graveyard and seemed to give his blessing, making the fates decide that John wasn't going to try to come back to life. Then, of course, he did. He contacted Epiphany and asked her to help resurrect him by making him cigarettes from his ashes, which, after he smoked them, made him corporeal again. Thinking to disappear and live happily ever after with Epiphany, they moved to a tiny house in Ireland, courtesy of Finn, that was totally off the grid and far removed from any apparent trouble, the last place anyone would think to look for John. That didn't last long, though, as John realized he can never run from his past.


title: Hellblazer

text: So John left Epiphany in Ireland and returned to England to confront Gemma. He stole the last dart holding the concoction that killed his demon twin, but ultimately gave it back to Gemma and told her either she could kill him, and live her life without him, but be consumed with guilt for killing him or she could let him disappear from her life forever, without any guilt for murdering him. Gemma shot the dart at him, but John disappeared. The final panel of Hellblazer reveals John, looking shocked and much older than we'd previously seen him, standing in a bar appropriately called "A Long Journey's End" surrounded by people, in front of a shelf full of bottles with the names of the comic's staff over the years.


title: Hellblazer

text: Guest writers were Grant Morrison (#25–26), Neil Gaiman (#27), John Smith (#51), Eddie Campbell (#85–88), and Darko Macan (#144–145).


title: Hellblazer

text: In 2011, it was announced that a younger John Constantine would feature in "Justice League Dark", one of the new titles launched as part of September 2011's DC Universe reboot. He was to be part of a team including Shade, The Changing Man, Deadman and Madame Xanadu, known as Justice League Dark. As part of the DC universe reboot in September 2011, Peter Milligan started the title which featured an alternate version of John Constantine as a prominent part of the team. Milligan wrote eight issues of "Justice League Dark", with writer Jeff Lemire taking over on issue nine.


title: Hellblazer

text: On November 8, 2012, DC announced that "Hellblazer" would be cancelled following its 300th issue, and would be replaced by "Constantine" written by Robert Venditti and drawn by Renato Guedes starring the younger New 52 John Constantine, rather than the version from Hellblazer, depicted as being in his late 50s. The "Constantine" series ended its run with its 23rd issue in May 2015. Nonetheless, the character would again star in another solo series entitled "Constantine: The Hellblazer", co-written by Ming Doyle and James Tynion IV with art by Riley Rossmo, released on June 10, 2015. Writer Ming Doyle expressed excitement in her chance to write Constantine, stating that the reason of putting the term "Hellblazer" back to the character's title was to "take Constantine back to what he was at the start." On July 20, 2016, a new comic book entitled "The Hellblazer: Rebirth" was released as part of "DC Rebirth", a major relaunch in an effort to return famous DC stories from before the New 52 into the reboot. The plot concerns John Constantine finally returning to London after being cursed by a demon that forced him to leave the city. Former "Hellblazer" characters such as Chas Chandler and Mercury made appearances in the series, and the comic was written by Simon Oliver who previously wrote the spin-off series "".


title: Hellblazer

text: In July 2019, DC announced that "Hellblazer" would be relaunched as part of "The Sandman Universe" line of comics. The relaunched series, written by Simon Spurrier and illustrated by Aaron Campbell, begins after the events of the 1990 miniseries "The Books of Magic". "Hellblazer" began with a one-shot on Halloween 2019, before becoming a regular series in November. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the series ended after 12 issues.


title: Hellblazer

text: "Hellblazer" was first published during the early days of the Modern Age of Comics, and so its themes were as dark, edgy, and politically and morally complex as its contemporaries. The comic mixed supernatural and real life horror, akin to contemporary gothic, with noire, surrealism and occult detective fiction elements. Unlike other comic books, it is also unique as it follows real time in its span of 20 years, with its protagonist John Constantine aging in every publication. Because of this, writers of the series often place their era's culture and social commentary in their run. When Jamie Delano first wrote the series in the late 1980s and early 1990s, his issues were heavily inspired by the era such as punk rock and the British economy. Delano would be the first to put his political views in the series, such as his negative views of Thatcher's regime and by 2005 includes the War on Terror. This made John Constantine different from other comic book characters at that time, in that he fights the political and social injustice of Great Britain.


title: Hellblazer

text: When Garth Ennis took over writing, he included his trademark representation of racism and religious fanaticism, as well his depictions of the Falklands War. The most controversial writer, Brian Azzarello, tackled issues such as neo-Nazism, prison rape and homosexuality. During Warren Ellis' run, he included American school shootings in a one-shot issue which led to a major controversy. In his run, Peter Milligan managed to put punk ideology in the series, with the protagonist trying to reacquire his former punk self, while also characterizing the Conservative government as a demon infestation with the punk subculture fighting against this supposed subversion and abuse. As such, much of Hellblazer's horror often comes in the crisis and controversies of its time. Being set in the UK, many famous British personalities have appeared or made cameos such as Sid Vicious, Margaret Thatcher, Aleister Crowley and Alan Moore.


title: Hellblazer

text: As stated by Warren Ellis, Hellblazer's major themes were cynicism, nihilism and "sudden violence", with the protagonist often narrating the story in dark proses with occasional breaking of the fourth wall. In many story arcs every victory Constantine makes has a negative side effect and often leads to tragedy. His friends, family, and others would be sacrificed or be caught in the crossfire, many of them are dead or have left him. John tries his best to make something good in his life, but most of it leading to failure.


title: Hellblazer

text: Over the two decades that it had been published, "Hellblazer" had normally been quite well received. While not attaining the sales of 'mainstream' comics, it had sustained healthy figures, consistently being one of the top selling Vertigo titles, and was sustained by healthy sales of trade paperbacks. Hillary Goldstein of IGN described it as, "Sometimes surreal, often provocative and almost always entertaining, the adventures of the Hellblazer are among the best Vertigo has to offer." Well-known comic book writer Warren Ellis also praised the series as his favorite, calling it as "among the very best horror works of the 1990s." Andre Borges from "DNA India" listed it in the "15 Must Read Graphic Novels", describing it as "one of the first of its kind", and that its "writing and art work have been praised throughout its run." Robert Tutton of "Paste Magazine" listed the series at #4 in its "13 Terrifying Modern Horror Comics", stating that "Constantine’s most frightening encounters have hewn close enough to that kernel of truth to remind readers that real life can be as terrifying as any succubus or demon spawn."


title: Hellblazer

text: Jamie Delano's original run on the title is looked on fondly, with journalist Helen Braithwaite stating, "His take on the character of John Constantine has never been equalled. Delano's "Original Sins" graphic novel should be in every comic book fan's collection." She added that, "His writing evokes an incredible sense of dread and terror in a reader." IGN listed the title as one of the 25 Best Vertigo Books, calling John Constantine as "one of Vertigo's best characters."


title: Hellblazer

text: Garth Ennis' run is also much loved, particularly "Dangerous Habits", which was voted the best Garth Ennis story on Comic Book Resources, ahead of his work on "Preacher", "The Boys" and "The Punisher". In the same article Brian Cronin describes John's one time love, Kit Ryan, as one of the series' most memorable characters. The popularity of Ennis and Dillon's run on "Hellblazer" is also credited for Vertigo agreeing to publish their seminal series "Preacher". Empire Magazine called "Dangerous Habits" storyline as "rightly one of the most celebrated in comic book history." Glenn Fabry who was the cover artist during Ennis' run, won an Eisner Award for "Best Cover Artist" in 1995.


title: Hellblazer

text: The creator of the protagonist, Alan Moore, praised Jamie Delano's portrayal of the character, commenting "[Delano] demonstrates brilliantly that English horror didn't vanish with the fog and gas lit cobblestones at the end of the Victorian era." Moore also liked Brian Azzarello's run on the series, commenting that Azzarello and Corben captured the character "down, cold and to the life."


title: Hellblazer

text: The character received positive critical reception while starring in the series. Empire Magazine ranked Constantine third in their 50 Greatest Comic Characters of All Time, while IGN ranked him #29 in their Top 100 Comic Book Heroes, and the character ranked #10 in Wizard Magazine's Top 200 Comic Book Characters of All Time.


title: Hellblazer

text: The comic book's initial cancellation, and the introduction of the character to DC led to many negative feedback and reception. "I, Vampire" writer Joshua Hale Fialkov expressed sadness he would never get to write "the 'real' John Constantine", noted crime author and former "Hellblazer" writer Ian Rankin stated that Constantine was the only comic book character he ever wanted to write for, and Alan Moore's daughter, Leah Moore expressing doubt that "Constantine" could replace "Hellblazer", among others. As a result, DC co-publisher Dan Didio issued a statement defending this decision, stating that, "Hellblazer's had a long and incredibly successful run and that's a tip of the hat to all the great creators that have worked on the book over the years. The new Constantine series will return him back to his roots in the DCU and hopefully be the start of another incredible run." "Comic Alliance" described "Hellblazer's" cancellation as marking "the end of an era for Vertigo" while adding it to be "one of a handful of comics from the late eighties that helped comic books and their readers grow up."


title: Hellblazer

text: "Hellblazer" boosted the popularity and image of the occult detective fiction genre and shaped it to its modern form. Many modern examples of the genre such as "Hellboy", "Supernatural", "Grimm", "The Originals", and "The Dresden Files" have been influenced by it, and many imitators of both the series and its character flourished such as "Criminal Macabre", "Gravel", "Planetary", and others. Its elements and style have been used countless of times in other works and many analogues of the cynical John Constantine have appeared.


title: Hellblazer

text: The first adaptation of "Hellblazer" ever filmed for the screen is one of the scenes in the documentary feature film "The Mindscape of Alan Moore", which was shot in early 2002. The dramatization consists of the John Constantine character wandering through London and, in the film ending, experiencing a mystical epiphany of sorts.


title: Hellblazer

text: In 2005, "Constantine" was released, a feature film that did not use the same title as the comic book, in order to avoid confusion with the "Hellraiser" horror franchise. The only links to the character of John Constantine were the name and a plotline loosely based on the "Dangerous Habits" story arc ("Hellblazer" #41–46). DC Comics announced a sequel to the 2005 "Constantine" movie was in the works, with producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura linked to the project. He stated: "I'd love to do it...We want to do a hard, R-rated version of it. We're going to scale back the size of the movie to try and persuade the studio to go ahead and make a tough version of it." In late 2012, director Guillermo del Toro publicly discussed the notion of creating a film that would star John Constantine alongside other DC/Vertigo characters such as Zatanna, Swamp Thing, and more.


title: Hellblazer

text: Constantine appears in the animated films "Justice League Dark" and "", with Matt Ryan reprising his role from the Arrowverse.


title: Hellblazer

text: In January 2014 it was announced that David Goyer and Daniel Cerone were developing a TV series based on "Hellblazer" to air on NBC"." Neil Marshall directed the pilot episode. The series follows Constantine in defending humanity against dark forces from beyond. On February, 21 it was announced that Welsh actor Matt Ryan was cast as the titular Constantine. The show ran for 13 episodes in Fall 2014, and on May 8, 2015, NBC cancelled "Constantine" midway through its first season.


title: Hellblazer

text: Ryan reprised his role as John Constantine in the fourth season of The CW's "Arrow" and in multiple episodes of the third season of "Legends of Tomorrow". In March 2018 it was announced Ryan's Constantine would join the cast as a series regular for the fourth season. An animated series featuring Ryan as the voice of John Constantine, "," was announced in January 2017 and was released to The CW's streaming platform in March 2018. The series was developed by Warner Bros. Animation and Blue Ribbon Content, with Greg Berlanti, Schechter and David S. Goyer (one of the creators of the live-action series) serving as executive producers, and Butch Lukic served as producer. J. M. DeMatteis wrote the series, and it was directed by Doug Murphy. Warner Bros Animation and Blue Ribbon Content Vice President Peter Girardi said the series aimed to be "darker" than the live-action series, and closer to the Hellblazer comics published by Vertigo.


title: Hellblazer

text: THQ released a video game tie-in of the film "Constantine". The song "Stranger in the Mirror" by Ookla the Mok is written from Constantine's point of view, including a lyrical reference to 'the Newcastle incident'. The song "Venus of the Hardsell", which first appeared in "Hellblazer Annual #1" and written by Jamie Delano, was adapted by the rock group Spiderlegs.


title: Hellblazer

text: Fantasy fiction author John Shirley is credited in writing three "Hellblazer" novels, including the novelisation of the "Constantine" film. The novel "Hellblazer: War Lord" features Constantine talking about "another John Constantine in an alternate universe, [who] has black hair and lives most of his life in Los Angeles" whilst giving a brief summary of the film's plot.


title: A Thursday

text: A Thursday is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language thriller film written and directed by Behzad Khambata. The film was produced by RSVP Movies and stars Yami Gautam, Atul Kulkarni, Neha Dhupia, Dimple Kapadia and Karanvir Sharma. The film premiered on Disney+ Hotstar on 17 February 2022.


title: A Thursday

text: Naina Jaiswal is a teacher at the Little Dots play school in Colaba. She was on leave for three weeks for some unknown reason. We learn that the school is located in the front portion of the property owned by Rohit Mirchandani, Naina’s fiance. Rohit also lives on the same property. The parents come to drop off their kids, and Naina requests one of the parents to send a cake, as she remembered that it was their daughter, Niharika’s, birthday the next day. She asked if their driver could deliver the cake to the school. Everybody leaves the premises, and something snaps inside Naina. There is a devilish fervor inside her that is ready to burn anything and everything that comes her way. She calls the Colaba police station and informs them that she has 16 children as hostages.Just then, Niharika’s driver arrives with a cake. Savitri, the helper, also, unfortunately, returns to take her phone, which she had forgotten. Both of them are taken into captivity as Naina has no other option.


title: A Thursday

text: The police officials come to see if the call received was a prank or if something is actually happening. Naina fires a shot to let the authorities know that she means business. Catherine Alvarez, the ACP, gets in touch with her, and Naina makes an unusual demand that she will only negotiate with an officer named Javed Khan. Naina initiates her death game, and Javed Khan is brought to the scene. She tells Javed that she will free one child for every demand met. The first demand she makes is that she wants five crore rupees transferred into her account. Catherine Alvarez and Javed Khan had a history together, so they were not very compatible while working together. Catherine does not listen to Javed and tries to send a force inside. It results in Naina killing Aakash, one of the children. The commissioner of police gives complete charge to Javed and sends Catherine to do the background research as both of them had major disagreements that were not helping the current situation.


title: A Thursday

text: Naina’s second demand is that she wants to talk to the Prime Minister. Unable to find a solution, the forces give in to the demand. The Prime Minister, Maya Rajguru, talks to Naina on the phone, and the latter urges her to come in person and meet her.


title: A Thursday

text: Naina tells Javed Khan to find two guys, Rakesh Mathur and Charan Kumar, who she last knew were working at BWC school in Goregaon, and bring them to her. The police are able to locate Rakesh Mathur, but they cannot find Charan Kumar.No one knows what Naina is up to, and Javed Khan and his team have no choice but to agree to what she says because the children are still in her custody.


title: A Thursday

text: Catherine discovers, while conducting a background check, that Naina has been taking antidepressants and visiting a psychologist since she was 16 years old. She searches Naina’s house and finds receipts for the medicine prescribed by Dr. Juneja. She gets in touch with Dr. Juneja, while Javed Khan gets hold of Naina’s mother. The information that they get from both of them makes the picture a bit clearer. Naina had been raped when she was 16 years old. Javed Khan and Catherine were the officers in charge of the case. They both paid little attention to Naina’s case as they were chasing a high-profile case to get into the limelight. Naina’s mother begged them for a couple of years and then started living with the trauma as there was no one who would address her grievances.


title: A Thursday

text: Prime Minister Maya Rajguru decides to meet Naina in person. She is accompanied only by Javed Khan. Naina brings up the POCSO Act, which came into effect in the year 2012. It was enacted in order to protect children under 18 years of age against sexual offenses. Naina asks the Prime Minister why there isn’t anything for people over 18. She demands that the Prime Minister assure her right then and there that rape offenders will face the death penalty. The PM tells Naina that amending the rules or passing an act is a complex task that requires time, but also assures her that she will make sure that her rapists are found and put behind bars. Naina then reveals that kid she killed is alive and she faked the death.


title: A Thursday

text: For some reason, the police were not able to find Charan Kumar. Charan Kumar was the same person who had brought Niharika’s birthday cake and was working as a driver for the family. It was an accident that Charan Kumar arrived with the cake. Naina had asked Niharika’s mother to send her driver with the cake, as she had figured three weeks back that Charan Kumar was working for them. He was the one who had raped her while Rakesh Mathur held her hands. Naina shoots Charan Kumar and takes her revenge.The commandos enter the house and take Naina into custody. While Naina is being transported to prison, Maya Rajguru brings up the issue of capital punishment in parliament.


title: A Thursday

text: Cyril of "India Today" gave the film a rating of 4/5 and wrote "Yami Gautam's A Thursday is the kind of thriller that has been missing from Indian screens for a while". Renuka Vyavahare of "The Times Of India" gave the film a rating of 3/5 and wrote "Despite a rather predictable backstory, A Thursday redeems itself with its powerful emotional arc and social commentary in the latter half. It touches upon a relevant issue that will resonate with women across the globe".


title: A Thursday

text: Pradeep Menon of "Firstpost" gave the film a rating of 2.75/5 and wrote "A Thursday strives to be urgent, relevant and cool, but succeeds only partially, because it stops to make a point far too often". Shubham Kulkarni of "Koimoi" gave the film a rating of 2.5/5 and wrote "A Thursday is a Yami Gautam show and she does bring her A-game on. But the set up ditches her a bit". Shubhra Gupta of "Indian Express" gave the film a rating of 1.5/5 and wrote "The chief problem with Yami Gautam film is that we do not take any of this seriously, whether it is Naina brandishing a gun, or snarling and cooing at her hostages.


title: A Thursday

text: The soundtrack to "A Thursday" featured twenty one instrumental compositions used in the film score curated and composed by Rooshin Dalal and Kaizad Gherda.


title: Visual effects

text: Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of


title: Visual effects

text: The integration of live-action footage and other live-action footage or CGI elements to create realistic imagery is called VFX.


title: Visual effects

text: VFX involves the integration of live-action footage (which may include in-camera special effects) and generated-imagery (digital or optics, animals or creatures) which look realistic, but would be dangerous, expensive, impractical, time-consuming or impossible to capture on film. Visual effects using computer-generated imagery (CGI) have more recently become accessible to the independent filmmaker with the introduction of affordable and relatively easy-to-use animation and compositing software.


title: Visual effects

text: In 1857, Oscar Rejlander created the world's first "special effects" image by combining different sections of 32 negatives into a single image, making a montaged combination print. In 1895, Alfred Clark created what is commonly accepted as the first-ever motion picture special effect. While filming a reenactment of the beheading of Mary, Queen of Scots, Clark instructed an actor to step up to the block in Mary's costume.


title: Visual effects

text: As the executioner brought the axe above his head, Clark stopped the camera, had all the actors freeze, and had the person playing Mary step off the set. He placed a Mary dummy in the actor's place, restarted filming, and allowed the executioner to bring the axe down, severing the dummy's head. Techniques like these would dominate the production of special effects for a century.


title: Visual effects

text: It was not only the first use of trickery in cinema, it was also the first type of photographic trickery that was only possible in a motion picture, and referred to as the "stop trick". Georges Méliès, an early motion picture pioneer, accidentally discovered the same "stop trick."


title: Visual effects

text: According to Méliès, his camera jammed while filming a street scene in Paris. When he screened the film, he found that the "stop trick" had caused a truck to turn into a hearse, pedestrians to change direction, and men to turn into women. Méliès, the director of the Théâtre Robert-Houdin, was inspired to develop a series of more than 500 short films, between 1896 and 1913, in the process developing or inventing such techniques as multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, dissolves, and hand-painted color.


title: Visual effects

text: Because of his ability to seemingly manipulate and transform reality with the cinematograph, the prolific Méliès is sometimes referred to as the "Cinemagician." His most famous film, "Le Voyage dans la lune" (1902), a whimsical parody of Jules Verne's "From the Earth to the Moon", featured a combination of live action and animation, and also incorporated extensive miniature and matte painting work.


title: Visual effects

text: VFX today is heavily used in almost all movies produced. The highest-grossing film of all time, "" (2019), used VFX extensively. Around ninety percent of the film utilized VFX and CGI. Other than films, television series and web series are also known to utilize VFX.


title: Visual effects

text: Visual effects are often integral to a movie's story and appeal. Although most visual effects work is completed during post-production, it usually must be carefully planned and choreographed in pre-production and production. While special effects such as explosions and car chases are made on set, visual effects are primarily executed in post-production with the use of multiple tools and technologies such as graphic design, modeling, animation and similar software. A visual effects supervisor is usually involved with the production from an early stage to work closely with production and the film's director to design, guide and lead the teams required to achieve the desired effects.


title: Visual effects

text: Many studios specialize in visual effects; among them are Digital Domain, DreamWorks Animation, Framestore, Weta Digital, Industrial Light & Magic, Pixomondo, Moving Picture Company and Sony Pictures Imageworks.


title: Earnie Shavers

text: Earnie Dee Shaver (August 31, 1944 – September 1, 2022), best known as Earnie Shavers, was an American professional boxer who competed between 1969 and 1995. A two-time world heavyweight championship challenger, he is known as one of the hardest punchers in heavyweight boxing history. He scored 69 knockout wins, including 23 in the first round, for a 76.7% overall knockout rate.


title: Earnie Shavers

text: Shavers challenged unsuccessfully twice for the heavyweight championship, losing to Muhammad Ali in 1977 and to Larry Holmes in 1979. He hurt Ali in the second round and knocked down Holmes in the seventh round. Shavers defeated former world champions Vicente Rondón, Jimmy Ellis, and Ken Norton, as well as three-time European heavyweight champion Joe Bugner and top heavyweight contender Jimmy Young.


title: Earnie Shavers

text: In 2001, Shavers released an autobiography called "Welcome to the Big Time". After retiring from boxing he continued to attend boxing events as a special guest, autograph signer, and motivational speaker.


title: Earnie Shavers

text: Shavers started boxing at the late age of 22. Before turning professional, he had a short but notable amateur career, winning the 1969 National AAU heavyweight title.


title: Earnie Shavers

text: In March 1969, National Golden Gloves director Tony Mange said Shavers "carries a hefty punch". He had nine straight knockout wins before he was himself knocked out by the 230-pound (104 kg) West German Horst Koschemann.


title: Earnie Shavers

text: Shavers posted a 20–6 amateur record as a heavyweight and recorded 14 knockouts (with half of those losses also by knockout.)


title: Earnie Shavers

text: Known as the "Black Destroyer", Shavers won 44 of his first 47 fights by knockout; mostly against unremarkable opposition. This included 27 consecutive knockouts, of which 20 were in the first round. He suffered setbacks with a unanimous decision loss in his 3rd bout to Stan Johnson, who was a replacement opponent for Wayne West, and a 5th round KO loss to Ron Stander.


title: Earnie Shavers

text: He began to rise to the upper ranks of the heavyweight division after he hired Cleveland-based promoter Don King to be his manager. His wins included one over a novice Jimmy Young who later became a world championship contender. Stepping up the class of his opposition, he came to public prominence with a first-round KO of one time WBA heavyweight champion Jimmy Ellis. His progress was halted when he was KO'd in the first round by Jerry Quarry, which was followed by another loss to a journeyman Bob Stallings. Shavers then had a thunderous match with hard hitting Ron Lyle but was stopped after 6 brutal rounds. He then knocked out hard hitter Howard King and beat powerful prospect Roy Williams in a brutal back and forward battle in which Shavers was nearly knocked out, a match Shavers maintained was one of the toughest of his career.


title: Earnie Shavers

text: Shavers fought Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden on September 29, 1977. Coming into the bout, Shavers had a record of 54–5–1, with 52 knockouts. Ali nicknamed Shavers "The Acorn" because of his shaved bald head. The fight was shown in prime time broadcast television by NBC, which rarely did prime time fights (ABC tended to get the Ali fights) and had the judges' scoring announced after each round to help avoid any controversial decision. Ali's cornerman Angelo Dundee asked Baltimore matchmaker Eddie Hrica to watch the broadcast in the dressing room and signal on the scoring. In the second round, Shavers hurt Ali with an overhand right. Ali play-acted that he was seriously hurt, and Shavers hesitated. On the scorecard they exchanged rounds. Ali won the fifth decisively. To win the fight Ali had to survive the last three rounds. Shavers, whose stamina was suspect before the fight, came alive in the 13th round. In the 14th, he battered Ali about the ring. Before the 15th, according to "Sports Illustrated" boxing writer Pat Putnam, "Ali was on very wobbly legs."


title: Earnie Shavers

text: Realizing Ali needed to last three more minutes, Dundee told him, "You don't look so good. You better go out and take this round." In a furious final round, the two men tagged each other, but Ali closed strongly, nearly dropping Shavers in the last 20 seconds. He won a unanimous decision. The next day, Garden matchmaker Teddy Brenner encouraged Ali to retire by stating the Garden would never make another offer to host an Ali fight. Brenner also thought that Shavers deserved the nod against Ali. The fight made the cover of "Sports Illustrated", with "ALI'S DESPERATE HOUR" featuring a photograph of Shavers scoring with an overhand right. Ali's fight doctor Ferdie Pacheco also urged Ali to retire after noting the punishment Ali had absorbed against Shavers. Ali later said Shavers was the hardest puncher he ever faced, comparing him favorably to Joe Frazier and George Foreman. Ali also stated that "Earnie hit me so hard, it shook my kinfolk back in Africa" - a quip Ali had previously used to describe other hard-hitting opponents.


title: Earnie Shavers

text: Shavers, being the No.3 WBC contender then fought for the title against No. 4 WBC contender Larry Holmes at Caesars Palace for an elimination bout for the WBC world heavyweight title, the winner to face WBC heavyweight champion Ken Norton. The fight happened at Paradise, Nevada on March 25, 1978. Holmes won by a 12 round unanimous decision.


title: Earnie Shavers

text: In a mandatory title challenge eliminator Earnie Shavers knocked out former champion Ken Norton in the one round, widely regarded as the best win of his career.


title: Earnie Shavers

text: Shavers & Holmes fought once again on September 29, 1979 in the same place as the previous fight between the 2, this time for the WBC title. Shavers knocked Holmes down in round seven but after taking a series punches in the eleventh round seeming defenseless, the referee stopped the fight awarding a TKO win for Larry Holmes. Holmes, known for his ability to take a punch, later said that Shavers' knockdown blow in the seventh round was the hardest he had ever taken in his career.


title: Earnie Shavers

text: The Holmes rematch was the last big fight for Shavers. In 1980, in a wild slugfest he was stopped in the eighth round by durable prospect Randall "Tex" Cobb. Prior to the Cobb fight, Shavers had undergone eye surgery for a detached retina. (Since eye surgery was not nearly as refined then as it is today, the majority of boxers retired for good after that kind of injury. In the words of Duane Ford of the Nevada Athletic Commission, a detached retina for a boxer was like an AIDS diagnosis). Shavers had not fully recovered from the surgery when he came back for the Cobb fight. He never again fought for the world title. In 1982 he fought Joe Bugner, also on the comeback trail. Bugner was knocked down in the first, and was stopped by cuts in the second round.


title: Earnie Shavers

text: Shavers continued to fight professionally for several years, retiring in 1995 after losing to Brian Yates. Many thought he should have retired after his upset loss to lower contender Bernardo Mercado. Shavers had a similar retinal eye injury as Sugar Ray Leonard.


title: Earnie Shavers

text: Shavers attempted two abbreviated comebacks–—a fight in 1987, and two in 1995, in the second of which he was KO'd by Brian Yates in round 2. After this loss, Shavers retired for good.


title: Earnie Shavers

text: Shavers finished his career in 1995 with a record of 76 wins (70 by knockout, 23 inside the first round, with 52 in the first 3 rounds), 14 losses (7 by knockout), and 1 draw.


title: Earnie Shavers

text: Shavers was an exceptionally heavy puncher who stalked his opponents, setting them up for his thunderous right, which was responsible for many of his knockouts, although Angelo Dundee in a "Sports Illustrated" mid-1970s article said "He can get you out of there with any kind of shot", referring to Shavers's ability to inflict damage with a left hook, right cross or right uppercut. Several boxers famous for their tough chins had fallen to Shavers's punches, including Bugner and Ellis who were felled by his uppercut.


title: Earnie Shavers

text: Shavers would throw punches against any legal area he could reach, exposed or covered, relying on his tremendous power to wear down his opponents and exploiting any opening. His fighting stance produced a short and powerful image. His chin was his weakness. He could however "box" as well as slug. Notably, he injured his right hand early in a 10-round match against rated craftsman Henry Clark and responded with a strong jabbing performance to beat Clark, himself noted for his jabbing ability, on points.


title: Earnie Shavers

text: Shavers published a video of highlights of his career in 1992 titled "Earnie D. Shavers, The hardest one-punch hitter", and later an autobiography.


title: Earnie Shavers

text: Shavers retired in 1983 after retinal problems were discovered. After retirement, he became an ordained Christian minister and moved to Phoenix, where he preached for many years. He moved to England to pastor a church there in the early 2000s. He was on the Benny Hinn TV show several times.


title: Earnie Shavers

text: During the early 1980s while preparing for the feature film "Rocky III", Sylvester Stallone explored the possibility of using a real heavyweight boxer in the role of James "Clubber" Lang by inviting Earnie Shavers to spar with him. Shavers initially refused to hit Stallone with anything other than a soft jab. This frustrated Stallone, who asked Shavers, "C'mon Earnie, show me something real." Earnie responded by punching him once near the liver, forcing an immediate retirement; Stallone later said: "that nearly killed me. I went straight to the men's room and threw up". However, according to Rhonda Young, the film's casting director, the reason why he was eventually not chosen for the part is that his voice was too high-pitched and not menacing enough (Joe Frazier was also considered).


title: Earnie Shavers

text: Shavers visited Ali several times and he said that he, Ali, and George Foreman became very good friends over the years. Foreman, when asked about toughest and hardest punching opponent he ever met in the ring, said:


title: Earnie Shavers

text: Foreman: You only meet three genuine punchers throughout your career: Gerry Cooney, Ron Lyle and Cleveland Williams, and they hit so hard that it vibrates your body even if you block, it just goes right through you.<br>


title: Earnie Shavers

text: Shavers accepted the invitation of the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International to preach at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.


title: Earnie Shavers

text: He also worked in Liverpool in the UK, as head of security at Hannah's bar, where he was very much respected. Until 2009, he worked at Yates' Wine Lodge in Liverpool "meeting and greeting". On occasion Shavers was a troubleshooting referee in professional wrestling after his retirement.


title: Earnie Shavers

text: He was also a Patron of The Shannon Bradshaw Trust, a children's charity based in Warrington, Cheshire, helping children with life-threatening conditions, and their families.


title: Earnie Shavers

text: Shavers spoke to pupils at Barr Beacon Language College in Walsall. He also gave a speech on 26 February 2008 at The Streetly School in Walsall, which was based upon helping kids make the right decisions in life.


title: Earnie Shavers

text: Shavers was married to Laverne Payne. They had five daughters from their marriage together: Tamara, Cynthia, Catherine, Carla, and Amy. He also has four daughters from other relationships: Catherine, Lisa, Natasha, and Latonya. He has 24 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. He worked at General Motors in Lordstown, Ohio in the late 1960s. Shavers made a guest appearance on the Irish TV programme "The Late Late Show" hosted by Ron Lyle where the two fighters discussed their previous bout that had happened a month earlier. Shavers was a frequent visitor to the pub "Roddy Bolands" in Dublin. There is a signed picture of Shavers drinking a pint of Guinness on the wall there.


title: Van Halen discography

text: Van Halen was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California in 1972 by the Dutch-born American brothers Eddie Van Halen (guitar) and Alex Van Halen (drums), plus singer David Lee Roth and bassist Michael Anthony. The band's discography consists of 12 studio albums, two live albums, two compilation albums, and 56 singles.


title: Van Halen discography

text: The band signed a contract with Warner Bros. Records in 1977, and in the following year released the album "Van Halen". Over the next few years, the band alternated album releases, one per year between 1979 and 1982, and touring to increasing commercial and critical acclaim, becoming one of the world's most successful and influential rock bands. In 1984, Van Halen released "1984", which peaked at No. 2 on the "Billboard" 200 and had the band's sole No. 1 hit on the "Billboard" Hot 100, "Jump". After the tour promoting that album, Roth left the band due to artistic and personal tensions with Eddie.


title: Van Halen discography

text: To replace Roth, Eddie picked Sammy Hagar, formerly of Montrose and at that time a very successful solo artist. Van Halen's first album with Hagar, 1986's "5150", was the band's first No. 1 on the "Billboard" 200. The three studio albums that succeeded, "OU812", "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" and "Balance", also topped the charts. In 1996, Hagar left Van Halen amidst similar tension with the Van Halen brothers.


title: Van Halen discography

text: Roth rejoined briefly and recorded two songs with the band for the 1996 compilation "Best Of – Volume I", but Van Halen eventually settled on Gary Cherone, frontman of the then defunct Boston-based band Extreme. Cherone's sole release with the band was "Van Halen III", released in 1998 to mixed reviews and diminishing sales, being the only Van Halen studio album not to get a platinum RIAA certification. Van Halen's last release for Warner was the 2004 compilation "Best of Both Worlds", which featured three new songs with Hagar. In 2011, the band left the label and signed with Interscope Records.


title: Van Halen discography

text: In February 2012, Van Halen released its 12th studio album and first for Interscope, "A Different Kind of Truth", featuring Roth on vocals and Eddie's son Wolfgang on bass guitar. The album debuted at number two on the "Billboard" 200, and became the band's highest-charting album on the UK Albums Chart with a sixth spot.


title: Van Halen discography

text: , Van Halen has sold 75 million albums worldwide and have thirteen No. 1 hits on the "Billboard" Mainstream Rock chart. During the 1980s, they along with the band Heart had more "Billboard" Hot 100 hits, fifteen, than any other hard rock or heavy metal band. According to the RIAA, Van Halen is the 19th best-selling music group/artist of all time with sales of over 56 million albums in the US, and is one of five rock bands that have had two albums ("Van Halen" and "1984") sell more than ten million copies in the US.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska (; born 2 January 1968) is a Russian billionaire and an industrialist. Deripaska enriched himself on previously state-owned assets that were privatized in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union. He is the founder of Basic Element, one of Russia's largest industrial groups, and Volnoe Delo, Russia's largest charitable foundation. He was the president of En+ Group, a Russian energy company, and headed United Company Rusal, the second-largest aluminium company in the world, until he quit both roles in 2018.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: He has been characterized as a victor in the "aluminium wars" in Russia during the 1990s, which were frequently violent conflicts between businesspeople to obtain state-owned assets. In 2000, Deripaska founded Rusal, the result of a partnership between Sibirsky Aluminium and Roman Abramovich's Millhouse Capital. In 2007, Rusal merged with SUAL Group and Glencore International AG to form UC Rusal, with Deripaska as chairman.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: He was once Russia's richest man, but lost a substantial part of his fortune amid the 2007–08 financial crisis. As of June 2022, his wealth was estimated by "Forbes" at $3.2 billion, making him the 920th richest person in the world. Deripaska bought himself Cypriot citizenship (and therefore EU citizenship) in 2017.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: He was placed under U.S. sanctions in 2018 for reasons relating to the 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia. Deripaska was one of seven oligarchs sanctioned by the British government over the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, including asset freezes and travel bans. He also has called for peace in Ukraine.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: Deripaska was born in Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Soviet Russia and grew up in Ust-Labinsk, Krasnodar Krai. His parents came from Kuban. Deripaska grew up on the family's small farm, where from the age of 5 or 6, he learned how to live off the land from his grandparents, who primarily raised him after his widowed mother, an engineer, had to leave to find work. Deripaska credits his grandparents for teaching him the discipline of hard work along with farming. Both his grandfathers fought in the Second World War. His maternal grandfather returned to Russia after the war ended. His paternal grandfather Timofey Deripaska (1918-1945) was killed in battle and buried in a mass grave in Austria — in his memory, Deripaska built a Russian Orthodox church in the town Laa an der Thaya.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: Deripaska's first job was at the Ust-Labinsk plant where his mother worked. At age 11, he became an electrician's apprentice doing maintenance on electrical motors. His talent for math allowed him to enroll at the physics faculty of Moscow State University in 1985. One year into his studies, he was conscripted into the armed forces and served in the Soviet Strategic Missile Forces in the Trans-Baikal district of Siberia from 1986 to 1989.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In 1993, Deripaska graduated with honors in physics from Moscow State University; however, the collapse of the Soviet Union greatly reduced academic funding, making it impossible for him to continue his studies as a theoretical physicist. There were no available stipends or grants for students. "We had no money. It was an urgent and practical question every day. How do I earn money to buy food and keep studying?" he recalls. In 1996, he earned a master's degree from the Plekhanov University of Economics.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: At the age of 25, teaming up with fellow physicists, engineers and rocket scientists, Deripaska set up his first metal trading company, VTK. He adopted a systematic, scientific approach to commodity trading. "I represented companies that were buying and selling raw materials", Deripaska said. Deripaska undertook export arbitrage, buying metal at low Russian prices and selling it abroad at significantly higher international market prices. Deripaska traded primarily through the Baltic state of Estonia, as the Russian system of export licenses was in disarray. "I started my business at an unusual moment in history. The country in which I was born and raised had disappeared, although the new country was not fully formed. The first one gave me an excellent education; the second one gave me the chance of success", Deripaska recalled in an interview with "Metal Bulletin".


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: He used nearly all his arbitrage and trading profits to acquire his initial package of shares in the Sayanogorsk aluminium smelter in Southern Siberia. Between 1993 and 1994, Deripaska bought vouchers and shares in Sayanogorsk, and accumulated a 20% stake in the factory, becoming the biggest individual shareholder after the Russian State—to the annoyance of the plant's Communist-era bosses.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In 1994, Deripaska became director general of the plant at the age of 26. In 1997, he founded Sibirsky (Siberian) Aluminium Group, which in 2000 merged with Roman Abramovich's Millhouse Capital to create RUSAL. In 2003, businesses led by Deripaska increased their stake in those companies under common management to 75% by acquiring half of the interest managed by Millhouse Capital. In 2004, the consolidation of RUSAL's ownership by companies related to Deripaska was completed with the acquisition of the remaining 25% equity interest in RUSAL managed by Millhouse Capital.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: RUSAL went on to become the largest aluminium producer in the world, until the China Hongqiao Group surpassed it in 2015. In 2010, under Deripaska's leadership, Rusal became the first Russian company to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: Beyond metals, which remain at the core of his diversified industrial holding, Deripaska has acquired stakes in a wide range of companies in various sectors, including energy, manufacturing, commercial vehicles, auto components, financial and insurance services, leasing businesses, construction, aviation, and agriculture. Among his assets are a Siberian power company , that is Russia's biggest private energy company; he ownes 10% of Ingosstrakh, one of Russia's largest insurance companies; GAZ Group, a producer of cars, trucks and buses, founder of agricultural business (Kuban Agro Holding). He established a transport company to run airports in the Krasnodar region, including Sochi and Krasnodar.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: Basic Element built several Olympic facilities for 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, including the Coastal Olympic Village, Imeretisnkiy sea port, Doubler of Kurortny Avenue in Sochi, renovation of the Sochi International Airport. The total investments account for over $1.4 billion.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: Deripaska was named businessman of the year in 1999, 2006, and 2007 by "Vedomosti", a Russian business daily.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: During the world financial crisis Deripaska tempor had to sell his 25 % stake in Austrian construction company Strabag, but bought them back in 2010. In return, Strabag obtained a 26 % stake in Transstroy,


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In July 2006, whilst Deripaska was involved in a bid to buy the Daimler Chrysler Group, it was reported that the United States canceled his entry visa; the unnamed official declined to give a reason for the revoking of the visa. "The Wall Street Journal" reported that it could have been because Deripaska has been accused of having links to organized crime in Russia and cited as their sources two unnamed U.S. law enforcement officials. "The New York Times" reported on 27 August 2018 that the visa had been revoked on concerns Deripaska might attempt to launder money through real estate transactions. Deripaska had received a multiple-entry visa in 2005; a U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation spokesman refused to comment. Lobbying on his behalf had been done by former Senate Republican leader and 1996 presidential candidate Bob Dole and his law firm, Alston & Bird, Senate records show. Alston & Bird was paid about US$260,000 in 2005 for work on "Department of State visa policies and procedures" tied to Deripaska.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In 2009, Deripaska was again allowed entry and visited the United States twice. "The Wall Street Journal" reported that according to two unnamed FBI administration officials, Deripaska met with agents regarding a continuing criminal probe, the details of which were not known or reported. During Deripaska's visits, he met with leading management figures from investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. The aluminum company that Deripaska headed, United Company RUSAL, was in preparations for an initial public offering. The easing of Deripaska's visa issues, which were an issue for possible investors, helped to reassure bankers. The State Department has never said why it revoked his visa and refused to comment on his 2009 visits. The visits were arranged outside of the usual process as the U.S. continues to have concerns about Deripaska's business associations. Deripaska has repeatedly denied a connection to any organized crime and said business rivals have caused the visa to be revoked by smearing him. When interviewed by the BBC in July 2009, Deripaska said that the authorities in the United States had been attempting to blackmail him by revoking his visa and thus affecting possible investors in a negative way and thereby hoping to push Deripaska into cooperating with them.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: NBC News reported in October 2021 that Russia had recently given Deripaska diplomatic status, allowing him to enter the U.S. with immunity.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In 2015, Deripaska filed a lawsuit against Morgan Stanley, accusing the bank of using insider information to short sell the businessman's $1.5 billion investment in shares of Canadian-based Magna International in 2008.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In May 2007, Magna International chairman Frank Stronach announced that Deripaska was becoming a strategic partner in Magna.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In 2007, Deripaska's Veleron investment vehicle acquired stock in Magna through a $1.2 billion loan from BNP Paribas, with Magna shares serving as collateral. Morgan Stanley was involved in the deal through a swap agreement with BNP Paribas where the US bank assumed the risks of the loan in return for a fixed payment from Paribas.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In September 2008, Magna's stocks plummeted, hit by the global economic downturn. BNP issued a $93 million margin call to Veleron. Morgan Stanley, in turn, learned that Veleron was unlikely to meet the call and sold the stock short. Deripaska claimed that Morgan Stanley abused its duties and engaged in unlawful insider trading that resulted in significant financial damage to Veleron, estimated at $15 million to $25 million.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: The New York jury determined in November 2015 that Morgan Stanley had "acquired inside information and traded on it despite a duty to keep it confidential and not trade on it", finding as well that Morgan Stanley did not have the intent to defraud Veleron. Veleron strongly disagreed with and said it would file an appeal.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: Deripaska is the founder of Basic Element, a diversified investment group established in 1997 which has been managing investments in the following sectors: energy, metals and mining, machinery, financial services, agriculture, construction, and aviation. The major investments under Basic Element management included stakes in United Company RUSAL (the world's largest aluminium and alumina producer), GAZ Group (an automotive company), Aviakor aircraft manufacturer, EuroSibEnergo (ЕвроСибЭнерго (an energy supply company) Glavmosstroy (Главмосстрой) (a construction company) Kuban Agroholding (an agricultural company) and Basel Aero (an aviation business comprising the three largest airports in the Krasnodar territory, and a joint venture with Changi Airports International). Basic Element has been managing Deripaska's investments into companies in Russia, the CIS countries, Africa, Australia, Asia, Europe and Latin America, which employ as many as 250,000 people. Strikeforce Mining and Resources (SMR) is also controlled by Basic Element.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: The group was formed in 2006, with Deripaska as president and controlling shareholder. The En+ Group is a diversified mining, metals and energy group. It owns a majority stake in UC Rusal (48.13%) and in EuroSibEnergo.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In 2017, it reported adjusted core earnings of $2.3 billion on revenues totaling $9.8 billion. In November 2017, En+ was listed on the London Stock Exchange raising $1.5 billion.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: United Company RUSAL is the world's second largest aluminium company. It was the largest until it was overtaken by China Hongqiao Group in 2015. In 2019, Rusal was overtaken by China's Chalco as the second biggest listed producer of aluminium. As of 2018, UC RUSAL accounts for 5.8% of the world's primary aluminium output and 6.2% of the world's alumina production.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In order to ensure a stable supply of alumina to its smelters, several mergers and acquisitions were accomplished by RUSAL under Deripaska. At the beginning of the 2000s, RUSAL acquired bauxite mines in Guinea, a country with the world's largest bauxite reserves. Subsequently, RUSAL acquired a stake in an alumina refinery in Australia. At Deripaska's behest, in 2007, RUSAL, SUAL Group, one of the world's top 10 aluminum producers; and Glencore International AG, the Swiss natural resources group, merged their assets to form United Company RUSAL, the world's largest aluminum and alumina producer.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: After the merger with Glencore, bauxite and alumina assets in Jamaica, Italy and Ireland were added to RUSAL's portfolio. These transactions converted RUSAL from a company with few supplies of the raw material bauxite into a vertically integrated corporation.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In parallel, Deripaska invested significantly in the operational improvement of smelters inside Russia. He said, "We consolidated the industry, and located bauxites that do not exist in Russia. We established the company that became the leader of industry in less than twelve years. But to become the number one aluminium producer in the world, we had to improve our operations practice. To apply the best practices in the world, we looked at Toyota, which had utilized a precise, deep and well thought-through process for almost thirty years of operations."


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: Deripaska himself has been an active supporter of Japanese production efficiencies made popular by the "Toyota Way." RUSAL smelters have adopted the concept of "kaizen", which means continuous improvement and involves training workers in standardized production techniques. "It's important to change both the company's mind set and reporting lines", Deripaska said. "Instead of top-down management, you should understand everything is in the hands of your operator and empower that operator to drive efficiencies and improvements directly on the factory floor."


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: Under Deripaska's leadership, RUSAL constructed and commissioned Khakas aluminium smelter outside of Sayanogorsk in Russian Siberia. The Khakas facility was the first aluminium smelter built in post-Soviet Russia (since 1985). The smelter, with an annual capacity of 300,000 tonnes, is currently one of the most technologically advanced in the world. The company also undertook large-scale modernization projects at a number of its facilities, including the Bratsk, Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk aluminium smelters.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In the middle of the financial crisis, Deripaska returned in 2009 to RUSAL as CEO to lead the company through the debt restructuring process. "I worked 16-hour days. We were in default, although none of the parties involved wanted to call it default." As part of contingency measures, Deripaska cut costs at RUSAL by 25% in 2009. By December 2009, Deripaska reached a final agreement with over 70 Russian and international lenders to refinance US$17 billion of debt.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In 2017, Rusal issued two Eurobonds to finance its debts. The first one, worth $600 million, was issued in February, followed by the second one in April, worth $500 million. Also in February, plans were announced to sell 10 billion yuan worth of seven-year onshore bonds to finance purchases in China. This made Rusal the first foreign company to offer panda bonds on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The company also agreed on a pre-export finance mechanism with international lenders worth $1.7 billion for debt refinancing.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In 2013, Deripaska was awarded the "Aluminium Industry Ambassador Award" in the "Metal Bulletin" Awards for Excellence for his "great influence within the global aluminium industry and the wider market".


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: Deripaska stepped down from RUSAL in May 2018 the day after seven board members and the chief executive resigned. The move was part of a deal with the US Treasury to get U.S. sanctions removed from the company. As part of that deal, in February 2019 it was announced that Deripaska had reduced his ownership stake in EN+ to below 50% in order to obtain sanctions relief.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: Michael Cherney brought legal action against Deripaska in the Commercial Court of the High Court in London. Cherney sought a declaration that he was the beneficial owner of 20% of RUSAL stock which, he claimed, Deripaska held in trust for him. The claim was denied. On 3 May 2007, Justice Langley ruled that Deripaska had not been properly served, and that the court had no jurisdiction to try the claim as Deripaska did not live in England or Wales.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: On 3 July 2008, Justice Christopher Clarke ruled that the case should be tried in England, although "the natural forum for this litigation is Russia", because, he held, "risks inherent in a trial in Russia...are sufficient to make England the forum in which the case can most suitably be tried in the interest of both parties and the ends of justice". On 22 July 2008, he granted Deripaska the right to appeal. The Court of Appeal of England and Wales rejected the appeal on 31 July 2009.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: At a June 2011 case management conference, the judge deferred a decision on whether Cherney would be allowed to give evidence by video link from Israel rather than appear in person. An outstanding arrest warrant issued by Interpol meant that the British would detain him if he travelled to the UK. In late July 2011, the High Court ruled to allow Cherney to give evidence at the trial by video link from Israel, and also set trial for April 2012. Deripaska denied that Cherney was owed any stake in RUSAL, and asserted payments made to Cherney had been for unavoidable "protection" at a time when violence was sweeping the region and posed an existential threat to any profitable business in the country. In an interview with "The Telegraph", Deripaska said he was one of the few who worked to clean up Russian industry and provided support to law enforcement agencies. However, in this early chaotic period paying protection money to criminal gangs was inescapable, as revealed in court testimony.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: EuroSibEnergo controls and manages 18 power plants with a combined installed energy capacity of 19.5 GW, including 15 GW provided by hydrogeneration. The company produces approximately 9% of all electricity in Russia and is also the leader in the Siberian energy market, with a market share totaling 41%. Some of EuroSibEnergo's key clients include the largest aluminum plants in Russia. The company owns large fuel resources, which satisfy over 85% of the coal needs of its thermal power and boiler plants. Its coal reserves amount to 1.26 billion tons, with annual coal production exceeding 12 million tons.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: En+ Group, of which EuroSibEnergo is a subsidiary, is investing in a joint venture with China's largest hydroelectric power generation company China Yangtze Power Co to build new power plants in Siberia, primarily hydroelectric ones, with a total capacity of up to 10 GWt.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: Russian Machines corporation was established in 2005 and unites Deripaska's machine building assets. It comprises industrial and engineering assets in the following industries: automotive OEM (GAZ Group), automotive components (RM-Systems), rail industry (RM Rail), aircraft OEM (Aviacor), road construction (RM-Terex) and agricultural machinery (AGCO-RM).


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In September 2017, Deripaska entered into a joint venture through his Russian Machines () with AGCO called AGCO-RM SPIC project ().


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In 2000, Deripaska started acquiring machine building assets. His first acquisition was Nizhny Novgorod-based Gorkovsky Automobile Plant (GAZ), which was previously a government-run company. In 2005, GAZ Group was established by combining the businessman's machine building assets.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: The Russian automotive conglomerate, GAZ Group, comprises 18 manufacturing facilities in eight regions of Russia, as well as sales and service organizations. GAZ Group produces light and medium commercial vehicles, heavy trucks, buses, cars, road construction equipment, power units, and automotive components.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In March 2019, GAZ Group asked the Russian government for $468 million in support claiming that US sanctions placed on Deripaska could cut production by almost 40% in the second half of that year.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: Basel Aero, a joint venture between Changi Airports International, Basic Element and Sberbank of Russia, is a company-operator the Sochi, Krasnodar and Anapa airports.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: These airports handle more than 7% of the total passenger flow in Russia. Sochi International Airport was the main gateway to Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and successfully serviced the guests and participants of the Games.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In October 2014, Sochi was granted open skies status, meaning that any foreign carrier may pick up and drop off passengers and cargo with no restrictions on aircraft type, frequency, and regardless of interstate agreements.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: Deripaska personally holds 10% of Ingosstrakh's ordinary shares. The company is a leading insurer of complex risks such as insurance for ship owners, ship hull insurance, insurance against aviation and space-related risks, and insurance of transportation companies. Ingosstrakh has 83 branches in Russia and the company's offices operate in 220 Russian towns and cities.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In 2011, Deripaska established Kuban Agroholding, a 75,000-hectare agribusiness in the Krasnodar region. The company integrates two dairy farms, а 16,000 pig capacity breeding complex, three elevators with non-recurrent grain storage capacity of more than 270,000 tonnes, three-seed plants, a sugar factory and the Sunrise horse breeding farm, specializing in the breeding of English thoroughbred horses. It is one of the top-20 largest agribusinesses and top-5 most efficient land users in Russia.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: Kuban Agroholding is one of the few agrocompanies in Russia involved in embryo transfer technology that allows for the reproduction of high-yielding milk cows out of less productive recipients.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: The company has gained significant media attention about its corn-seeding program, deploying several dozen corn brands selected by its genetic specialists.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In 2004, Deripaska was appointed by the President of Russia to represent the country in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Advisory Council (ABAC). He has been Chairman of ABAC Russia since 2007. Deripaska is the vice president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, chairman of the executive board of the Russian national committee of the International Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship Council, an agency of the Russian government.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: He has been a permanent participant at World Economic Forum sessions since 2007, when RUSAL became a WEF strategic partner.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: Deripaska sits on the board of trustees of the Bolshoi Theatre, and has financed ballet performances like "Flames of Paris", "La Sylphide", and "Paquita" as well as operas like "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya", "Carmen", and "Wozzeck".


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In 1998, Deripaska established a charitable foundation in Russia, Volnoe Delo. The fund supports initiatives in Russia aimed at developing education and science, preserving spiritual and cultural heritage, and improving standards in public health. Since 1998, Deripaska claims to have invested in more than 500 charity programs in 50 regions of Russia. Volnoe Delo has supported research activities in the 2,550-year-old city of Phanagoria since 2004. More than $10 million has been allocated to Phanagoria fieldwork over the past 14 years. Today, Phanagoria is one of the best-equipped archeological sites in Russia and has a scientific and cultural center, equipment and technology for above-ground and underwater excavation, as well as a team of specialists involved in the excavation process. In 2014, Volnoe Delo foundation launched a programme for students' early career guidance and professional training—JuniorSkills. The first, pilot, championship on professional skills, JuniorSkills Hi-Tech, was held in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg in 2014, part of the nationwide championship on cross-industry blue-collar professions in high-tech "WorldSkills". In 2020 during the pandemic of COVID-19 it bought new ambulances and sent them to twelve Russian towns in Siberia and the Urals.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: Deripaska is also a member of the International Council at Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: During the West African Ebola virus epidemic Deripaska personally initiated construction of the Centre for Epidemic and Microbiological Research and Treatment in the Guinean Kindia province. The centre was designed and constructed by RUSAL specialists with the assistance of Rospotrebnadzor scientists (RUSAL has invested $10 million).


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: He sits on the board of trustees of the School of Business Administration, the School of Public Administration, and the School of Economics at Moscow State University as well as the School of Business Administration at St. Petersburg State University. Deripaska is a co-founder of the National Science Support Foundation and the National Medicine Fund. In 1999, he was awarded the Order of Friendship, a state award of the Russian Federation.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In February 2014, Deripaska financed the construction of makeshift kennels to house stray dogs that had been abandoned by construction workers after completing work on the Sochi Olympic Village.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In October 2015 Deripaska called for governments not to agree to the Paris climate accords, arguing that countries like India and China needed to contribute more to avoid competition problems.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: As part of a public relations campaign, he said in April 2021 that Rosstat (Federal State Statistics Service) data showing that there are 17.8 million poor people living below the country's subsistence minimum was wrong, and that the correct number was about 80 million.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: Deripaska and Iskander Makhmudov (head of UGMK) were asked by Spanish police to answer questions in relation to a money-laundering enquiry.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: While Deripaska had been interrogated previously as a witness in Spain and England and by the FBI about money laundering, he was never charged with any crimes.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: On 25 January 2010, the "Financial Times" published a story titled "Rusal: A lingering heat" exploring Deripaska's business relations with Sergei Popov and Anton Malevsky, alleged heads of Russian organized crime groups. Deripaska has accused Michael Chernoy of using Malevsky and the Izmailovskaya syndicate to extort US$250 million from him as part of a protection racket. However, Deripaska has himself been accused of having similar links to Malevsky, who, with his brother Andrei, owned a 10% stake in Deripaska's company. Deripaska denies the claims.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In November 2011, Spain's High Court sent the criminal cases against Deripaska to the Russian General Prosecutor's office because the root of the cases is Russian.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: Deripaska is known for his close ties with Russian president Vladimir Putin. Their relationship became visibly strained amidst Deripaska's financial struggles in 2009. In an incident broadcast on Russian television, Putin visited a stalled cement factory owned by Deripaska and berated its management. He forced Deripaska to sign a contract promising to pay nearly $1 million in unpaid wages. Their relationship recovered, however, and Deripaska has been described as "Putin's favorite industrialist". Leaked U.S. diplomatic cables from 2006 described Deripaska as "among the 2–3 oligarchs Putin turns to on a regular basis" and "a more-or-less permanent fixture on Putin's trips abroad". In an 2011 interview with "The Globe and Mail", Kinross Gold CEO Tye Burt, who knows Deripaska, said "I believe Russia recognizes Oleg's major role in building a renewed economic base in a broad range of domestic businesses and rejuvenating ailing companies and infrastructure."


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: On 27 February 2022, the third day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Deripaska posted on Telegram: "Peace is very important! Negotiations need to start as soon as possible!" The following day, he addressed the economic situation posed by Western sanctions in a series of posts:


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: "I really want clarifications and intelligible comments on the economic policy for the next three months," Deripaska said, adding that the Russian central bank's decision to dramatically hike interest rates and force companies to sell foreign currency are the "first test of who will actually be paying for this banquet". "It is necessary to change the economic policy, [we] need to put an end to all this state capitalism," he added. Referring to Moscow's earlier annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula and the subsequent introduction of Western sanctions, he warned that "unlike 2014, it will not be possible to sit this out now".


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In February 2022 Deripaska said that the war in Ukraine would bring 200 years of damnation to Russia.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: On 28 June in a press conference held for that purpose at a Moscow university Deripaska said repeatedly it would be a "colossal mistake" and a "colossal error" for Russia to destroy Ukraine with its military offensive and termed as "war", a word that is effectively banned in Russia in the context of the invasion of Ukraine. He thinks the war on Ukraine is completely mad, and said that the sanctions are of course more harmful for the Russian economy than the West: "The debt markets are closed, the capital markets are closed, foreign owners are expropriated; it is a major upheaval."


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: Deripaska is a friend of Nathaniel Rothschild, a major investor in both Glencore and United Company RUSAL. Together Deripaska and Rothschild hosted George Osborne and Peter Mandelson on Deripaska's yacht in Corfu in the summer of 2008. Osborne was then Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom and a friend of Rothschild from school and university. Peter Mandelson has reportedly maintained private contacts over several years with Deripaska.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: News of the contacts sparked criticism because, as European Union Trade Commissioner, Mandelson had been responsible for decision to cut aluminium tariffs from 6 to 3%, a decision that had benefited Deripaska's Company RusAl. Mandelson insisted that he had never discussed aluminium tariffs with Deripaska. On 26 October 2008 the Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague claimed the "whole country" wanted "transparency" about Mandelson's previous meetings with Deripaska. In response, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Mandelson's dealings with Deripaska had been "found to be above board". Mandelson said that meeting business figures from "across the range" in emerging economies was part of his brief as EU Trade Commissioner. On 29 October 2008, while Mandelson was on a ministerial visit to Moscow, it was alleged in the British press that Valery Pechenkin, the head of security at Deripaska's company Basic Element, organised a swift entry visa for Mandelson when he came to Moscow to visit Deripaska in 2005.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: On 22 March 2017, the Associated Press published a report alleging that Paul Manafort, Donald Trump's former presidential campaign manager, negotiated a $10 million annual contract with Deripaska to promote Russian interests in politics, business, and media coverage in Europe and the United States, starting in 2005. Both Deripaska and Manafort confirmed working together in the past, but rejected the contents of the AP story. Manafort argued that his work had been inaccurately presented, and that there was nothing “inappropriate or nefarious" about it.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: Responding to the allegations, on 28 March 2017, Deripaska published open letters in the print editions of "The Washington Post" and "The Wall Street Journal" in which he denied having signed a $10 million contract with Manafort in order to benefit the Putin government. He also stated willingness to testify before the United States Congress about these allegations, and argued that the accusations were part of "the negative context of current US-Russian relations." Congressional sources cited by "The New York Times" said lawmakers declined Deripaska's request after he had asked for immunity from criminal prosecution. Unnamed officials argued that "immunity agreements create complications for federal criminal investigators".


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: On 15 May 2017, Deripaska filed a defamation and libel lawsuit against the Associated Press in U.S. District Court in D.C., arguing that the report falsely claimed that Deripaska had signed a contract with Manafort to advance the goals of the Russian government. The lawsuit was dismissed in October 2017 on the grounds that Deripaska had not disputed "any material facts" in the story by the Associated Press.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: While Manafort served within the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, it is alleged that Manafort, via Kyiv-based operative Konstantin Kilimnik, offered to provide briefings on political developments to Deripaska. Behaviors such as these were seen by writers at "The Atlantic" as an attempt by Manafort "to please an oligarch tied to" Putin's government.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In February 2018, Alexei Navalny published a video about a meeting between Deripaska and Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Sergei Eduardovich Prikhodko on a yacht traveling near Norway. According to Navalny, Deripaska probably served as a middle man between the Russian government represented by Prikhodko and Paul Manafort during Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. Prikhodko denied the allegations, accusing Navalny of "mixing the facts" about his "friend" Deripaska, Donald Trump and Paul Manafort, while also voicing his wish to have talk with Navalny as a "man with a man".


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: A day after the video was published the Roskomnadzor added the video to the Federal List of Extremist Materials, thus making accessing the video illegal for all Russian citizens. It also ordered YouTube to remove seven videos and Instagram to take down 14 points that were cited in the investigation; neither YouTube nor Instagram had responded as of 12 February 2018. According to a Roskomnadzor representative who spoke to "Vedomosti", a "court injunction of this sort against content hosted on Instagram and YouTube is unprecedented for Russia". The "New York Times" noted that this may presage a "more aggressive approach by the Russian government" to control online activities.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In March 2018, fearing her own death while incarcerated in Bangkok, Anastasia Vashukevich, a Belarusian escort who claimed to have an intimate history with Deripaska, claimed to have over 16 hours of audio recordings she said could shed light on possible Russian interference in American elections. She offered the recordings to American authorities in exchange for asylum, but was deported and arrested in a Russian airport. Vashukevich said the recordings from August 2016 include Deripaska discussing the United States presidential election with three English-speakers who Vashukevich believed were American. "Deripaska had a plan about elections", Vashukevich said. In court, Vashukevich apologized to Deripaska, and said Russian agents visited her in jail to urge her to cease public statements about him. "The New York Times" argued that her claims might be easily dismissed were it not for the Navalny video. Deripaska denies an intimate history with Vashukevich.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In April 2018, the United States imposed sanctions on Deripaska and 23 other Russian tycoons and officials. The statement of the United States Department of the Treasury said that Deripaska "ha[d] been accused of threatening the lives of business rivals, illegally wiretapping a government official, and taking part in extortion and racketeering".


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In October 2018 the U.S. Treasury announced that it had extended until December 12 a deadline for the full imposition of sanctions against Rusal and its parent company En+ Group, pending the review of the proposals presented by En+ Group to the U.S. government that would see Deripaska reduce his stake in En+ to below 45 per cent from around 70 per cent.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In January 2019 the U.S. Treasury lifted the sanctions on companies formerly controlled by Deripaska. Sanctions on Deripaska himself remained in effect. In April 2019, the U.S. Treasury Department nonetheless allowed Deripaska to transfer 10.5 million shares of his holding company En+ Group to a trust fund for his children as part of a divorce settlement with his ex-wife Polina Yumasheva, which had been finalized before the sanctions were put in place. The deal to have U.S. sanctions removed from En+ Group was brokered by Greg Barker, a UK legislator, who in February 2019 went on to be appointed chairman of En+ Group.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: In March 2019, Deripaska sued the United States, alleging that it had overstepped its legal bounds in imposing sanctions on him and made him the "latest victim" in the FBI probe into Russia's interference in U.S. elections. U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta dismissed the suit in June 2021, ruling it lacked merit. On October 3, 2022, the US Supreme Court rejected the oligarch's appeal.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: On September 29, 2022 the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York accused Deripaska of sanctions evasion. According to the prosecutor's office, the businessman, through Gracetown Inc., illegally used the U.S. financial system to service real estate objects owned by him. In this he was assisted by two women: Olga Shriki, who operated in the United States, and Natalia Bardakova, who directed Shriki from Russia. They are also charged with violating U.S. sanctions. Chriqui was arrested on September 29. All three "are charged with one count of conspiring to violate and evade U.S. sanctions, in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison," the statement says. Edward Bonham Carter has been charged with helping Deripaska evade sanctions.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Deripaska was sanctioned by the British government which involved freezing his assets and a travel ban.


title: Oleg Deripaska

text: On 8 April 2022, the EU added Deripaska to its sanctions list, freezing his assets and imposing a travel ban in all member states.