Suleiman Kerimov (Ñóëåéìàí Àáóñàèäîâè÷ Êåðèìîâ) was born on March 12, 1966, in Derbent, Dagestan.

Education: Business, Dagestan State University, 1989.

1984-1986: Served in the Strategic Missile Forces

1989-1995: Kerimov's first job was as an accountant at a television factory in Makhachkala, the Dagestani capital. By 1995, he had risen through the ranks to become the factory's deputy general director.

1995: Moved to Moscow and was appointed to head Soyuz-Finans, a banking and trading company

According to Forbes Russia magazine, which profiled Kerimov's business career in June 2006, he made some of his money through corporate raids, including the takeover of Smolensky Passazh, a business center, and AvtoBank (story).

October 1998: Bought a 55 percent stake in Nafta-Moskva, the successor to the Soviet-era oil trading monopoly Soyuznefteexport, for $50 million after the 1998 economic meltdown, and increased his control to 100 percent by 2000. By 2002, Kerimov had turned it into primarily an investment and holding company.

1999: Duma deputy from Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR). He later became chairman of the Sports and Physical Activities Committee.

2001: Kerimov, Roman Abramovich and Oleg Deripaska acquired a stake in Andrei Andreyev's holdings, including metals company Nosta (which became a part of UralSib in 2006), Ingosstrakh, Avtobank (a top 10 retail bank) and others. Andreyev later claimed that a criminal conspiracy had robbed him of his holdings (story).

2003: Began investing in large Russian companies such as Gazprom and Sberbank. Kerimov later reduced his stakes to buy into Western banks before the 2008 financial crisis.

2005: Kerimov bought Polymetal, one of world's largest gold and silver miners. He sold almost 70 percent of his shares in 2008 (story).

2006-present: Chairman of the board of trustees of the Russian Wrestling Federation

November 2006: Kerimov was involved in a serious car accident in Nice, France, in which he was severely burned. Television star Tina Kandelaki was in the passenger seat when Kerimov lost control of his Ferrari and escaped without serious injury. Kerimov returned to Moscow in January 2007.

May 2007: Joined United Russia. He had been a member of LDPR since 1999. He is considered an ally of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

2008-present: Member of the Federation Council, representing Dagestan

Early 2009: Acquired a 37 percent stake in Polyus Gold from billionaire Vladimir Potanin (story)

June 2010: Acquired a 25 percent stake in potash miner Uralkali

September 2010: A Cypriot court froze stakes in Kerimov's Cyprus-based companies, including stakes in Polyus Gold and Uralkali, when Duma Deputy Ashot Yegiazaryan's lawyers filed a civil suit charging Kerimov with forcing him to give up his stake in the Hotel Moskva project. The freeze was lifted in February 2011 (story).

December 2010: Uralkali officially launched a $7.8 billion friendly takeover of domestic rival Silvinit, which is also majority-owned by Kerimov and associates (story)

January 2011-present: Owner of Russian Premier League football team FC Anzhi Makhachkala

March 2011-present: Member of the Dagestani People's Assembly

In 2010, Forbes estimated Kerimov's wealth at $5.5 billion, making him the world's 136th wealthiest person.

He is married and has three children.