Yuri Golitsyn

Yuri Olegovich Golitsyn (Юрий Олегович Голицын, born June 24th 1998 - died September 30th 2049) was a Russian businessman, investor, and director-general of Golneft. At the time of his death, Golitsyn was the eighth-wealthiest man in Russia.

Born in Moscow, Golitsyn studied in London City and the United States (US) before taking a management role at Exxon Neftegas in 2021. He joined Polyargaz in 2028 before moving into the technology sector with the co-founding of Pokrov in 2032.

In 2039, Golitsyn returned to the oil industry and capitalised on the Hammerblow to create Golneft, which is currently the largest company in Russia by revenue. Golitsyn’s outspoken criticism of G6 and neural colloids had made him a controversial figure in Russian and international circles, leading to several rows with President Denis Molchalin and Xu Shaoyong.

On October 1st 2049, Russian state authorities confirmed Golitsyn was aboard Xu’s helicopter when it was destroyed by a hijacked drone in Beijing, China on September 30th 2049. The deaths of Golitsyn and Xu are being treated as an assassination, with a Chinese investigation currently underway and Adira as a possible suspect.

Early life and educationPermalink

Yuri Olegovich Golitsyn was born on June 24th 1998 in Moscow, Russia to oil executive Oleg Golitsyn and psychologist Agata Krupin. His father’s government ties and prominent position at Lukoil afforded Golitsyn a privileged upbringing, including placement at London City’s Harrow School. In 2018, he completed a Bachelor of Science with honours in Philosophy and Economics at the London School of Economics, followed by a Master of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

CareerPermalink

GolneftPermalink

In 2021, Golitsyn took a management role at Exxon Neftegas. He oversaw several capacity expansion projects and quickly earned a reputation as a shrewd businessman and industry expert. In 2028, Golitsyn left Exxon Neftegas to join his father’s Polyargaz venture, where he supervised financing deals for the company’s Arctic Ocean drilling programme, securing over ¥213 trillion in funding in two years. Despite these successes, Golitsyn repeatedly clashed with other members of senior management over various projects and priorities. In October 2031, he resigned his position at Polyargaz due to dissatisfaction with the company’s troubled Lomonosov Ridge project, coupled with the strain from the unexpected suicide of his brother Arkady on September 2nd 2031.

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In 2039, Golitsyn returned to the oil industry after the Hammerblow, which sparked a frenzy of speculation as restrictions on foreign investment had been relaxed by the primireniye reforms. Backed by a consortium of investment firms, Golitsyn successfully acquired many production and transportation assets belonging to Polyargaz and merged them into Golneft. In August 2039, he reached out to Polyargaz’s board of directors, informing them that Golneft would withhold access to pipelines and other infrastructure unless Polyargaz agreed to be acquired. Following an unsuccessful lawsuit, a deal was finalised in July 2040, with the two entities formally merging under the Golneft name.

In 2042, the weakening international demand for oil and natural gas forced Golitsyn to scale back Golneft’s operations, including plans for development in the East-Prinovozemelsky field and its involvement in Power of Siberia 3, a proposed second western route for Russian natural gas to China. In February 2043, Golitsyn unveiled Golnext, a new investment programme for alternative energy applications. When Golnext’s initial slate of projects faced political as well as financial challenges, Golitsyn abandoned the programme’s remaining domestic projects in 2046 and focused on international joint ventures.

PokrovPermalink

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On April 13th 2032, Golitsyn organised a press conference in Innopolis to announce the launch of Pokrov, a startup for digital security privacy services. Backed by foreign and domestic investors, including Efrim Waite and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Pokrov has since grown into one of Russia’s leading technology companies, reaching a valuation of ¥83 trillion by 2035.

Following Russia’s vote in favour of passing Resolution ES-13/6 in February 2041, Golitsyn voiced his opposition to Russian participation in G6 and lobbied against the network’s use of neural colloids, calling it “a fatal overreaction.” Golitsyn’s outspoken criticism of G6 soured his relationship with President Denis Molchalin, which led to Pokrov being blocklisted from lucrative security contracts. Golitsyn had also alleged that Molchalin exerted political pressure on his financing partners, forcing the cancellation of several major projects.

In 2045, the Russian government launched a criminal investigation into Pokrov, accusing the company of illegally reverse engineering colloid technology. This was followed by additional civil suits filed by Zhupao, alleging that Pokrov had been developing and selling collocidals since 2042. In a public statement, Golitsyn denied any wrongdoing and condemned Molchalin and Zhupao for “deliberately misrepresenting the long-term risks of colloid implants.” In September 2045, all cases were unexpectedly dropped, with rumours of an out-of-court settlement when Pokrov’s share price dropped by twelve points in the following week.

In July 2047, China reported that G6 had flagged an increase in symptomatic cases of Cariappa-Muren disease (CMD), which led to widespread fears that the second wave of the CMD pandemic was starting earlier than epidemiological forecasts had indicated. Accusing China of “trading on CMD phobia,” Golitsyn claimed that the Russian government was “blindly going along with China” and pointed to Russia’s G6 data, which had identified the second wave of CMD as a rise in cases of cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD). When these cases were linked to colloid implants in November 2047, Golitsyn repeated his claims of “unrepresented and underreported health impacts” of colloid technology. Xu Shaoyong responded by attributing the CSVD cases in Russia to the country’s illicit market in colloids, singling out Pokrov as “an infection vector of note.” ^[1]

DeathPermalink

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On September 30th 2049, Golitsyn was killed in an attack that took place at Beijing Daxing International Airport. ^[2] He was aboard Xu’s private helicopter when it was shot down at 16:51 CST by a single missile fired from one of the airport’s security drones. The missile struck the passenger compartment of the helicopter as it was touching down, causing an explosion and instantly killing everyone aboard.

Chinese and Russian authorities are treating the incident as a cyberattack that interfered with the drone’s identification friend or foe (IFF) and fire authentication systems to launch the missile at Xu’s helicopter. Golitsyn’s presence aboard the helicopter was not known until October 1st 2049, and his movements in Beijing prior to the attack remain the subject of a separate investigation. ^[3] It is currently unclear whether Xu, Golitsyn, or both men were the target of the attack, though the Chinese investigation has established a connection to Adira. Molchalin is currently in talks with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to send an investigative team to Beijing. ^[4]

Personal lifePermalink

Golitsyn was an enigmatic figure who eschewed publicity and avoided the opulent lifestyle generally associated with second-generation Russian oligarchs. After divorcing his first spouse in 2034, Golitsyn married actor Lyanka Pugachev, with whom he had two children.

In his twenties, Golitsyn was a gossip website favourite along with his brother Arkady, who was known for his lavish spending and celebrity relationships. In August 2031, one of Arkady’s private cloud drives was hacked and its contents sold to Zhizn, which republished them online. While legal action eventually forced its removal, the stolen material was mirrored across major file-sharing services, including video diaries, drug prescriptions, and compromising images. On September 2nd 2031, Arkady’s body was found in a hotel room in Sochi, with the cause of death ruled as suicide from an intentional overdose. Golitsyn had repeatedly expressed personal doubts over the findings of the investigation into Arkady’s death.

See alsoPermalink

• Assassination of Xu Shaoyong and Yuri Golitsyn
• Golneft
• Pokrov

ReferencesPermalink