Russia’s Billionaires Increase to 110 This Year, Wealth Rises to Over Half a Trillion Dollars: Report
Last Updated: April 23, 2023, 10:06 IST
The richest man in Russia is Andrei Melnichenko, who made a fortune in fertilisers and has an estimated worth of $25.2 billion. (Credits: Reuters)
Russia now has 110 official billionaires in the list, up 22 from last year, while their total wealth increased to $505 billion from $353 billion
The wealth of Russia’s richest people increased by $152 billion over the past year despite the war in Ukraine, a report in Reuters said.
The report quoting Forbes Russia said that the number of billionaires saw an increase in wealth due to the increased prices for natural resources and rebounding from the huge loss of fortunes they experienced just after the Ukraine war began.
Russia now has 110 official billionaires on the list, up 22 from last year, while their total wealth increased to $505 billion from $353 billion when the 2022 list was announced.
The new Russian names in the Forbes list include billionaires who made their money in snacks, supermarkets, chemicals, building and pharmaceuticals, indicating that Russian domestic demand has remained strong despite the sanctions, the report said.
The list doesn’t include five billionaires- DST Global founder Yuri Milner, Revolut founder Nikolay Storonsky, Freedom Finance founder Timur Turlov, and JetBrains co-founders Sergei Dmitriev and Valentin Kipyatkov as they renounced their Russian citizenship.
“Last year’s rating results were also influenced by apocalyptic predictions about the Russian economy,” Forbes said, adding that the total wealth of Russia’s billionaires was $606 billion in 2021, before Ukraine war.
According to the list, the richest man in Russia was Andrei Melnichenko, who made a fortune in fertilisers and has an estimated worth of $25.2 billion, more than double what he was estimated to be worth last year.
The second richest in the list was Vladimir Potanin, president and biggest shareholder of Nornickel, the world’s largest producer of palladium and refined nickel with a fortune of $23.7 billion. Vladimir Lisin, who was the richest man last year, was placed third in the list with a fortune of $22.1 billion.
After Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in Feb 2022, the West has imposed what it casts as the most severe sanctions in modern history on Russia’s economy in an attempt to punish Putin for the war.
Though Russian economy shrank 2.1 percent in 2022 amid Western sanctions, it was able to sell oil, metals and other natural resources to countries including China, India and the Middle East.
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