Yuriy Vitrenko

Yuriy Yuriyovych Vitrenko (Юрій Юрійович Вітренко; born 17 September 1976) is a Ukrainian businessman.

Vitrenko was born and raised in Kyiv before completing his education abroad.

He spent his early professional career as a management consultant, investment banker, and private equity manager at international companies in Kyiv and London.

Vitrenko was born 17 September 1976.

His mother is a pro-Russian Ukrainian politician Nataliya Vitrenko.

Vitrenko graduated from the Faculty of International Economics and Management at Kyiv National Economic University in 1996 and completed a master's degree in International Business Management the following year.

He then undertook post-graduate studies at the Department of International Economic Relations at the Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University's Institute of International Relations.

Following four years of additional international study, Vitrenko was certified by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in 2002 before becoming a fellow in 2007.

In June 2004, he received an MBA from INSEAD.

Yuriy Vitrenko began his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

He then joined Merrill Lynch as an investment banking associate in London[3], before going on to hold the posts of COO and SVP at Amstar Europe, a division of private equity management company Amstar.

Vitrenko is the owner and CEO of AYA Capital and AYA Securities, boutique investment banking, private equity advisory, and securities trading firms[6].

During Ukraine's 2013-2014 Revolution of Dignity, Vitrenko published several papers outlining market reforms for Ukraine together with AYA Research, a research arm of AYA Capital.

Prior to the Revolution of Dignity, Vitrenko served in a number of posts at Naftogaz focusing on company strategy, corporate finance and Russia-Ukraine gas relations at a time when Ukraine was critically dependent on Russian gas.

Vitrenko is closely associated with Ukraine's post-2014 energy sector reforms and efforts to enhance the country's energy independence.

Following the onset of Russian military aggression against Ukraine in February 2014, Vitrenko began serving Naftogaz as an advisor and was soon appointed as a senior executive.

Key achievements in this role included freeing Ukraine from dependence on Russian gas imports; transforming Naftogaz from a loss-making enterprise into the biggest net contributor to the Ukrainian state budget; improving corporate governance in line with OECD guidelines; facilitating the development of a liberalized wholesale gas market; and securing two landmark victories over Russia's Gazprom in international arbitration proceedings.

According to Upstream, Vitrenko was “at the forefront of the company's legal battles with Gazprom.”

Securing transportation capacities and alternative gas supplies from the EU were top priorities in summer 2014 after Russia halted deliveries of gas to Ukraine.

This was achieved by unlocking the Slovak inter connector and signing a breakthrough contract with Norwegian gas producer Statoil (currently Equinor).

This was widely viewed as a significant step toward securing Ukraine's energy independence.

Vitrenko was a key figure in a long-running arbitration battle between Naftogaz and Gazprom from 2014 to 2018 that was recognized as the world's largest ever commercial arbitration case.

The Russian company's claims were close to Ukraine's GDP and thus represented a major strategic threat not only to Naftogaz but to the country as a whole.

Many of the reforms adopted in the years following 2014 proved controversial within Ukraine while being applauded by the country's Western partners.

During this period, Vitrenko held the number two position at Naftogaz but was widely perceived as the driving force behind the company's modernization.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groisman named Vitrenko the “mastermind” behind the transformation of Naftogaz with CEO Andriy Kobolev serving as a figurehead.

Prior to being appointed CEO of Naftogaz, Kobolev had worked at AYA Capital, owned and headed by Vitrenko.

Vitrenko has since maintained that he and Kobolev entered into a gentlemen's agreement in 2014 stating that they would be equal partners in the management of Naftogaz.

A series of favorable verdicts delivered by the Arbitration Institute in Stockholm in 2017-18 saved Ukraine $81.4 billion in damages while awarding Naftogaz $4.6 billion for Gazprom's failure to deliver contracted transit volumes.

He played a key role in Naftogaz's landmark multi-billion dollar 2018 international arbitration court victory over Russia's Gazprom and has been a vocal opponent of the Nord Stream II pipeline project.

However, by the end of 2018, the first signs of a rift between the two were becoming apparent, with Vitrenko moving from his position as Group Chief Operating Officer to Executive Director focusing on the gas transit business and relations with Gazprom.

In 2019, the Naftogaz gas transit business unit headed by Vitrenko reported record profits.

Vitrenko was also widely credited by reform observers such as the Atlantic Council with leading reform and restructuring efforts within Naftogaz.

Internal tensions mounted within Naftogaz during 2019 over the implementation of a transformation plan developed by Vitrenko's team.

From December 2020 until April 2021, Vitrenko served as Ukraine's Acting Minister of Energy.

From April 2021 to November 2022 Vitrenko was the CEO of Naftogaz of Ukraine.

Following arbitration success, Vitrenko negotiated a new gas transit contract for 2020-2014 directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a December 2019 summit meeting in Paris.

“My personal experience in dealing with Putin is that you can only make him do the right thing if you are prepared to confront Russia,” Vitrenko commented following talks in the French capital.“They only understand strong positions in negotiations, so unless you are ready to show that you have a strong position [and] you prepare in advance, you have no chance to win against Putin.”

Some Ukrainian politicians were critical of the new gas transit deal with Russia, while many of Ukraine's partners including the US offered public congratulations.

In early 2020, Vitrenko criticized Kobolev in front of the Naftogaz supervisory board.