Boris Mints

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Boris Iosifovich Mints (born July 24, 1958) is a Russian businessman known for real estate and finance. He helped found Otkritie FC Bank and later led the O1 Group, an investment company with real estate and financial assets. He holds Russian and Maltese citizenship and has spoken out against Vladimir Putin and Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Born in Rîbnița, in what is now Moldova, Mints studied physics at Ivanovo State University, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1980. He has a PhD in technical sciences and has worked as an associate professor of higher mathematics. His early career included time at the Ivanovo Textile Institute and a Youth Center for Scientific Creativity. He served as vice mayor of Ivanovo (1990–1994) and later held various positions related to state property and local governance under Boris Yeltsin. He was involved with the Union of Right Forces and was chief executive of REN TV (2001–2003).

In 2003–2004, Mints joined with Vadim Belyaev to create Investment Group Otkritie Ltd., where he became chairman of the board. He led Otkritie Financial Corporation from 2004 to 2013. In 2004 he founded the O1 Group, which manages real estate and other assets, and in 2010 started O1 Properties, which grew to become a major owner of commercial real estate in Russia by 2017. He also helped launch pension fund acquisitions between 2013 and 2017. He later faced legal and regulatory challenges, including a government bailout of Otkritie in 2017, and multiple lawsuits in Russia and the UK. In 2021, Interpol rejected a Russian request to arrest him.

Mints is active in Jewish and academic circles. He serves on the boards of the Conference of European Rabbis, the Russian Jewish Congress, and the World Jewish Congress, and he founded the Boris Mints Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions to Global Challenges at Tel Aviv University. He helped establish the Yegor Gaidar International Foundation and chaired it from 2010 to 2020. He is involved with the G.N. Romanov Center and sits on Tel Aviv University’s board of governors. He is also a noted art collector, focusing on Russian painting and graphics, and created the private Museum of Russian Impressionism in Moscow, which opened to the public in 2016.

Mints is married to Marina Vladimirovna Mints, and they have four children. He enjoys chess and tennis. He has been a vocal critic of Putin and used his platform to support humanitarian relief and the sheltering of Ukrainian refugees in the UK during the 2022 war.