Bidzina Ivanishvili

Bidzina Ivanishvili (Georgian: ბიძინა ივანიშვილი; born 18 February 1956), also known as Boris Grigoryevich Ivanishvili, is a Georgian businessman, politician and oligarch. In 2012 he founded the Georgian Dream party and led it to the victory in the 2012 Georgian parliamentary election. After briefly serving as the country's prime minister in 2012–2013, Ivanishvili has been the de facto leader of Georgia since then through his informal influence. Since December 2023, he has held a post of the honorary chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, a position created specifically for him, granting him a right to nominate the prime ministerial candidate, unlikely to be rejected given Ivanishvili's status as the party's patron.

Ivanishvili is the richest man in Georgia, with his wealth estimated at $7.6 billion in 2024, a figure equivalent to 24.8% of Georgia's 2023 GDP. Ivanishvili made his wealth in Russia in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union. He initially sold computers in Russia before acquiring cheap banking and metals assets when the Russian government privatized its Soviet-era state assets under Mikhail Gorbachev, and subsequently Boris Yeltsin. Ivanishvili left Russia in 2002 and moved to France, becoming a French citizen.

Ivanishvili entered Georgian politics in 2012, when he founded the Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party and secured victory in the 2012 Georgian parliamentary election against the United National Movement party of incumbent President Mikheil Saakashvili. After serving as Prime Minister of Georgia from October 2012 to November 2013, he claimed that he was leaving political life; however, he continued to be widely viewed as the éminence grise controlling the Georgian political process from behind the scenes. After formally returning to politics in 2018 as chairman of the ruling party, Ivanishvili again claimed to be leaving politics behind in 2021, only to stage yet another comeback in late 2023 as the honorary chairman of Georgian Dream. Since 2024, he has been sanctioned by the United States and several European Union countries "for undermining Georgian democracy and advancing the interests of the Russian Federation".