V ladimir Yevtushenkov is a powerful Russian oligarch who is the founder and chairman of the board of directors of Sistema, a massive and highly diversified Russian conglomerate. He started his career in the plastics industry and founded Sistema in the early 1990s. He has since built it into a major holding company with interests in a wide range of key sectors of the Russian economy. His most valuable asset for many years was his controlling stake in the mobile phone operator, MTS, which became Russia's largest mobile network.

In addition to telecom, Sistema has had major interests in retail, forestry, agriculture, and real estate. His career has been marked by his close ties to the Russian political establishment but also by significant challenges. In 2014, he was arrested and placed under house arrest, and his major oil company, Bashneft, was nationalized by the Russian state. Following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, he has been sanctioned by the United Kingdom and other countries, and has since transferred his stake in Sistema to his son.