Timur Artemyev, co-founder of Euroset, who has lived in London since 2008, gave an interview to Yelizaveta Osetinskaya on the program 'Russians Are Norm!' In the conversation, he explained why his role in creating the company turned out to be less visible than that of Yevgeny Chichvarkin, and spoke about his desire to return to Russia.
Role at Euroset and Fear of Arrest
Artemyev said that initially he and Chichvarkin had agreed on a division of positions: he was to become general director, and Chichvarkin commercial director. However, according to him, his partner 'proclaimed himself commercial dictator,' and this, in Artemyev's view, reflected the essence of what was happening in the company. The businessman stressed that without Chichvarkin, Euroset would not have happened: 'I am more of a financier, I can do many things, but I would not have come anywhere close to the marketing that Yevgeny did.'
Commenting on the events around the company involving the police and prosecutors, Artemyev said it was 'very frightening when the head of security and his five deputies were arrested.' According to him, he himself was never at a single interrogation, and he explained the move to London by saying that Chichvarkin 'felt it.'
Monowheel and Cryptocurrencies
After selling Euroset, Artemyev took up promoting the monowheel, spending, by his own account, several million dollars on it. He compared the monowheel to the mobile phone in the transport sphere and explained: 'If you leave home and need to go to the bakery or the laundry, the dry cleaner, with a monowheel the radius of your possibilities increases three or four times.' Assembly takes place in London, development is carried out in Russia, and their author, according to the businessman, previously made anti-ship missiles. Artemyev admitted that the business is going 'rather sluggishly': 'All the deadlines have already passed.' Now he also plans to sell scooters and electric bicycles, but continues work on new prototypes in Russia and Ukraine.
He also spoke about his experience in the cryptocurrency market, which, according to him, ended 'at zero or a small plus.' Artemyev believes that cryptocurrencies will occupy 1–2% of the money market: 'People will keep their money in cryptocurrency. One way or another this cryptocurrency will be used.' He is also thinking about investing in Telegram, confident that Durov's cryptocurrency 'will go up.'
The Moon, Longevity and Return
Among Artemyev's projects is participation in a financing round for Moon Express, which took part in the Google prize for the first private lunar landing. He explained his interest in the Moon: 'It is real business after all, in the sense that on the Moon you don't have to dig anything, that is, the entire cosmic set of Mendeleev's table falls there.' He called a Virgin Galactic ticket given to him by Chichvarkin the best investment: thanks to it he met Richard Branson and bought land in the British Virgin Islands.
Artemyev, born in 1974, dreams of living until 2080 and is investing in a project developing a 'cure for trans fats.' He explained his desire: 'I simply very much want to see Russia a prosperous country. And I want to live in Russia, I want to live in Moscow.' He is confident that a new generation will soon come to power that 'will completely tear apart this entire outdated system.' Regarding citizenship, he said that for now he remains in principle a citizen of Russia. 'England for me is an airport and a railway station. No, I dream of one day returning to Russia and bringing all my knowledge, abilities, and skills to the country and teaching, developing, and doing startups in Russia,' the businessman said.
1
