Yevtushenkov resigned in 1993 to establish Sistema.

Since 1995 he is the major shareholder and chairman of the board of the Russian investment holding company Sistema (together with another Top Managers such as Evgeny Novitsky). Sistema was an early shareholder in Russian mobile telecommunications pioneer VimpelCom, and sold its stake when the company was the first Russian company to list on the New York Stock Exchange in November 1996. Yevtushenkov took Sistema public in February 2005, in a $1.35 billion IPO that was Russia’s largest ever at the time. Today Sistema is the largest shareholder in MTS, Russia’s largest telecommunications company. Other major Sistema assets include children’s goods retailer Detsky Mir, pulp and paper holding Segezha Group , Russia’s largest chain of private healthcare clinics MEDSI etc.

In 2009, Sistema purchased oil and gas companies in the Republic of Bashkortostan. This would be the foundation of the oil and gas company Bashneft.

Currently, Yevtushenkov owns 64% of the total conglomerate. In 2014, according to Forbes, he was Russia’s 15th richest businessman with a fortune of around US$9 billion. On the Forbes 2016 list of the world’s billionaires, he was ranked #722 with a net worth of US$2.4 billion. By February 2018 his assets had fallen to US$2 billion, and his rank plunged to #1215; by November 2018, Yevtushenkov was Russia’s 62nd wealthiest man with his total means amounting US$1.4 billion and dropping to #1541 in the world’s billionaires ranking.

In September 2014 Russian investigators placed Yevtushenkov under house arrest, accusing him of money-laundering in connection with the acquisition of shares in oil producer Bashneft. 72% of Bashneft’s shares were owned by Sistema. Sistema said it considered the accusations baseless. In December 2014 as ruled by the Moscow Arbitration (Commercial) Court Bashneft was re-nationalised. Following the return of Bashneft to State ownership, in February 2015 the Moscow Arbitration Court awarded Yevtushenkov’s Sistema RUB 70.7 billion ($1.1 billion) in damages from the loss of Bashneft. And in January 2016, all the accusations against him in connection with the acquisition of Bashneft has been dismissed as it was found that no crime had been committed.