The clock on the Kremlin tower had already struck midnight on May 28th 2025, when Andrey Melnichenko was finally summoned. The building was largely empty but its most important occupant was still awake. Vladimir Putin greeted his guest and invited Melnichenko to sit beside him, offering him tea. “Move closer, Andrey,” Putin said kindly. Melnichenko’s gaze landed on a red folder which lay in front of Russia’s president—he guessed it was a dossier about him supplied by the security services.

Melnichenko, a slim, tall man with a gawky bearing, is one of Russia’s richest men. He had met Putin before in the company of other Russian businessmen. But this was the first time he had asked to see nachalstvo (“the leadership”) one on one. He began by introducing himself. Over the past 35 years he has built up a conglomerate with vast holdings in fertilisers, mining, energy and logistics. Yet he had always kept a low profile. Even Putin seemed surprised to hear about the scale of Melnichenko’s operations, which account for nearly 1% of Russia’s GDP. 

Melnichenko began to talk about his public role, including the brief on climate policy he held with the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, a club of businessmen. Putin began to lose interest. Melnichenko thought he could read a question in Putin’s eyes: “Why are you here? What do you want from me?”