(DEUTSCHE WELLE) One of Putin’s biggest fans and a prominent businessman in the agriculture industy, Stefan Dürr has built a farming empire in Russia.
Dürr emigrated from Germany to Siberia when he was a student and now has his own empire in Russia. He owns at least 200,000 hectares of land and has 60,000 cows and 4,000 employees. Two years ago Vladimir Putin personally handed him the certificate of Russian citizenship. Russia wants to become independent of European Union imports and Dürr’s milk empire benefits from this policy. That’s because he also receives some of the state subsidies that are being invested in building up Russia’s agriculture. Wherever Dürr shows up, be it at the Agrofarm agricultural trade show in Moscow, or at the regional ministries of Kaluga and Voronezh, people listen to him and rely on him. We meet a man who waxes lyrical about how much he has been able to grow in Russia, how he has been able to buy land and develop as an entrepreneur and also get involved in politics. Dürr is an ice hockey fan: ‘Germany,’ he says, ‘is like football: very thought through, following strict rules. Fouls are punished, dives could be worth it. In Russia it’s like ice hockey: faster, more spontaneous, tougher – and yet still following fair rules.’ It’s a game that Dürr seems to have a talent for.
