Ivan Ignatyevich Savvidi (, ; born 27 March 1959),
Biography
Ivan Savvidis was born on March 27, 1959, in the village of Santa,
Tsalka District, in what was then the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.
His parents, Ignatios and Kleoniki, were
Pontic Greeks workers, originating from Dumanlı,
Turkey, who had 8 children, including Ivan. He was brought up as a Christian Orthodox, taught Greek history and until the age of 7 spoke only
Pontic Greek.
At the age of 14 he settled in
Rostov-on-Don where he finished high school. He served his
Soviet Army and was discharged with the rank of sergeant. At the end of his military service he found work at the Don State Tobacco Factory. At the same time, in 1984 he began studying at the
Logistics Department of the Rostov Institute of National Economy, from which he graduated in 1988.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Savvidis joined the stream of Pontic Greek fleeing to Greece.
After spending some time in the village of Megali Vrysi in
Kilkis where his sister lived, trying to encourage Greeks in the area to invest together in the private economy that was shaping the former Soviet Union, he returned to Rostov and his old job. After some time of successful work, the management decided to promote Savvidis, appointing him deputy director.
In 1993, was elected by workers as general director of the
Donskoy Tabak company.
The same year, during the privatisation process, "OJSC Donskoy Tabak" was established. Savvidis became the main shareholder of the company with a 75.71% stake and its chairman.
In 2013, Forbes listed Savvidis as the 30th wealthiest Russian businessman in the world.
In 2017 he acquired 19% of Mega Channel but some months later he sold it.
In March 2018, he sold the CJSC Donskoy Tabak, together with the Greek SEKAP, to Japan Tobacco for 1.6 billion.
In February 2024 the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine decided, following a request by the Ukrainian Justice Ministry, to seize the assets of Ivan and Kyriaki Savvidis assets in the country due to his continued support for Russia's war effort in Ukraine. According to media sources, Savvidis' support dates back to 2014 and has been steady and long-standing. The confiscated assets include all of the shares of "PentoPak", a private joint stock company involved in polyamide food packaging, and all of the authorized capital of the Ukrainian subsidiary of food-packaging company "Atlantis-Pak".
The State Property Fund of Ukraine proceeded in May 2024 to an electronic auction of the "PentoPak" company. According to the SPFU, this is the first case of the sale of a sanctioned plant. Its starting price was more than 203 million hryvnia. (about 4.5 million euro)
Real estate
In February 2013, Savvidis took over the management of the
Macedonia Palace in
Thessaloniki.
He has also acquired a number of historic villas of Thessaloniki (such as the Longos mansion, Villa Zardinidi etc.), while his recent investment in Porto Carras reaches €500million.
Political career
Savvidis was elected to the Legislative Assembly of
Rostov Oblast in 1998 and 2003. In 2003, Savvidis was elected as a Deputy in the
State Duma; he subsequently served as the Deputy Chairman of the Budget Committee and Taxes. In 2007, Savvidis was re-elected as a Deputy in the
State Duma as a member of the party
United Russia led by chairman
Vladimir Putin, serving until 2011. He served as a member of the Committee International Affairs,
as coordinator of Interparliamentary Relations with the Hellenic Parliament
and as Deputy Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Russia-Belarusian Union.
He has previously made positive comments about the Greek political party Syriza and has likened Alexis Tsipras to Vladimir Putin.
Sports
Between July 2002 and July 2005, Savvidis was President of
FC Rostov.
On 10 August 2012, he acquired ownership of the Greek football team PAOK
In 2015 Savvidis paid all of the club's debts to the Greek State, an amount that totalled at €10,886,811.
Under his presidency, PAOK FC has won two Super League championships.
Controversies
Gun demonstration
Ivan Savvidis was the focus of global attention on the evening of March 11, 2018, when he entered the stadium during the
PAOK FC -
AEK FC championship match, which was a pivotal moment in the 2017–2018 season. At the time, the match was tied at 0-0, and at the 90-minute mark, PAOK's Fernando Varela scored the decisive goal with a header. The referee initially allowed the goal to PAOK, but a few minutes later, at the suggestion of the linesman and following protests from the AEK players, he disallowed the goal for offside. The overturning of the goal sparked a huge uproar both in the stands and inside the stadium, with players from both teams storming the pitch. Among them was Ivan Savvidis, who, accompanied by his bodyguards, ordered the PAOK players to leave the stadium. Ivan Savvidis appeared with a
revolver strapped to his hip.
The referee and the AEK players headed to the locker room when they saw Savvidis with the handgun in his belt and the game was stopped.
The pistol was photographed by the mobile phones of AEK's officials and was soon released on the internet. Although the pistol did not come out of its holster, the spectacle of the gun-toting businessman storming the stadium was the subject of negative commentary worldwide.
Savvidis was initially sentenced to 25 months' imprisonment, suspended for three years, after being found guilty of illegal entry into the stadium and possession of weapons. Apart from the criminal aspect, the sports justice system had punished the PAOK FC president with a three-year stadium ban and a fine of 100,000 euros.
The sentence handed down by the appeal court was reduced to eight months, with a three-year suspension. The businessman was found guilty only for the accusation of "possession, with intent, of an object that may cause bodily harm during a sporting event".
Allegations of joint ownership
His rivalry with Evangelos Marinakis, owner of Olympiacos F.C., is particularly bitter; their rivalry, combined with their respective spending power, far superior to that of other Greek football clubs, is seen by analysts as one of the causes of the sport's problems in the country.
[
] In 2019, a television channel controlled by Marinakis broadcast an investigation accusing Savvidis of using figureheads to acquire ownership of another Super League team, Xanthi F.C., in violation of FIFA regulations governing professional leagues. An independent, government-appointed commission of inquiry was tasked with investigating the allegations: in 2020, after completing its investigations, the commission decided that the two clubs should be punished with relegation.
In
Thessaloniki, there was an immediate outcry against this hypothesis, accusing the institutions of favoring Olympiakos; in the face of this and protests from certain political circles, the government tabled an
amendment to the law stipulating as a penalty for such cases of multiple ownership the deduction of 5 to 10 points.
The case reached the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which referred it to the Appeals Committee for a new hearing on the merits. In 2021, the Appeals Committee of the EPO cleared PAOK F.C. of all charges.
Personal life and community service
Savvidis is President of the Federation of Greek Communities of Russia,
and was a key figure in pushing for the newly created region by the World Council of Hellenes Abroad in the
Black Sea countries.
In 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Savvidis ordered his associates to prepare around 487 rooms available at the Porto Carras resort in Chalkidiki within northern Greece in order to host refugees of the country during this time.
He is married to Kyriaki Savvidi and has two sons, George (Giorgi) and Nick (Nikolai).
Awards
State
-
Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" IV degree (21 February 2008) – '' for achievements in legislative activity, strengthening of Russian statehood and the development of Rostov-on-Don
-
Order of Honour (13 December 2003) – for labor achievements and many years of diligent work
-
Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" II degree (6 September 1999) – for his contribution to the socio-economic development of the city of Rostov-on-Don, and in connection with its 250th anniversary
Church
-
Order of Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow II degree (2009)
-
Order of Saint Seraphim of Sarov III degree (2011)
-
Orthodox Knight of the Holy Sepulchre by the Patriarchate of Jerusalem
Public organizations
-
Medal "Patron of the Year" – for the revival of Russian culture and the Rostov-on-Don region (1999–2009)
