BillionairesThe richest men in Russia

Russia’s oligarchs are also not immune. The wealth of the country’s ten richest people has declined by $ 27 billion to $ 152 billion in one year, according to Forbes. So they are in good company. As of March 18, 2020, every second billionaire on the “Forbes” realm list worldwide was “poorer” than a year earlier. According to the US magazine, the Russian super-rich have been hit by the oil war with Saudi Arabia, the weak ruble and the first effects of the corona crisis. In addition, there is currently a natural disaster beyond the Arctic Circle. Nevertheless, the following applies: wealth is more crisis-proof in Russia than in other parts of the world.
Russian billionaires are super rich
There is a new richest man in Russia. However, according to the “Forbes” analysis, none of the ten leaders had to vacate their place in the leaderboard. The comparison with the United States shows that Vladimir Putin’s empire ticks differently. The United States currently has 614 billionaires, according to Forbes. Russia has only 99 super rich people. In the United States, there are one billionaire for every 500,000 people. In Russia, it is a billionaire per 1.5 million inhabitants. Russian tycoons are rarely sown, but they are far more wealthy. While each US super-rich has an average of just under $ 5 billion, the Russians have almost $ 40 billion.
The richest men in the US made their money with innovations and the purchasing power of the population. In Russia, mineral resources and good relations with the Kremlin are the way to the top. And while the list of German super-rich is dominated by heirs, all tycoons of the Russian Federation founded in 1990 are self-made billionaires.
These are the ten richest men in Russia:
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# 10 Roman Abramovich
Roman Abramovich is the tenth richest Russian with a fortune of $ 11.3 billion, according to Forbes. The 53-year-old oligarch ranked 113 of the richest people worldwide as of the reporting date. Like seven other top 10 members, he lost at least $ 1 billion within a year. Abramowitsch owes his fortune to the shares in the steel giant Evraz and Nornickel, the world market leader in the mining of nickel and palladium. The oligarch doesn’t always get his way, but knows how to do it. When his British investor visa was not renewed in 2018, the owner of Chelsea FC simply obtained Israeli citizenship.
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# 9 Andrei Melnichenko
Andrei Melnitschenko was 48 years old on the “Forbes” list date. This made him the youngest of the ten richest billionaires in Russia. He is the majority owner of the fertilizer manufacturer EuroChem and the largest Russian coal producer SUEK. Melnichenko started his career in the 1990s with a chain of exchange offices. According to the ranking, it currently weighs $ 12.5 billion and ranks 95th worldwide.
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# 8 Mikhail Fridman
Fridman was born in today’s Ukraine in 1964. Like Abramovich, he has Israeli citizenship and lives most of the time in Great Britain. Fridman is the founder of Alfa Bank, the largest non-government controlled bank in the country, according to Forbes. In 2013, he earned $ 5.1 billion from the sale of his stake in the TNK-BP oil company. Fridman ranks 86th in the global ranking with $ 13 billion.
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# 7 Alish Usmanov
Only two tycoons of these top 10 were able to increase their wealth against the general downward trend. One of them is Alischer Usmanow. According to Forbes, his assets grew by around $ 800 million to $ 13.4 billion within a year. The 66-year-old laid the foundation for his wealth during the Soviet Union with the production of plastic bags, which were rare in the country at the time. Today Usmanow’s assets are based on the shares in the steel giant Metallinvest and various investments, including Facebook and Xiaomi.
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# 6 Gennadi Timchenko
Gennady Timchenko, according to Forbes, is one of the most powerful men in Russia and has a close relationship with President Putin. However, he lost almost a third of his assets within a year and slipped from third to sixth place with $ 14.4 billion. The reason, according to the report, was a 50 percent drop in the shares of its gas company Novatek.
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# 5 Wagit Alekperow
Wagit Alekperow was one of the most powerful men in the oil and gas industry in the USSR. The mining engineer continued his career in the Russian Federation. He founded the oil company Lukoil. Almost a quarter of the joint-stock company, which is owned by Alekperov, is the largest company in Russia after the state-owned companies Sberbank and Rosneft, according to Forbes. The 69-year-old ranks 65th among the richest people in the world with $ 15.2 billion.
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# 4 Alexei Mordaschow
“Forbes” estimates Alexei Mordashov’s fortune at $ 16.8 billion. This means 54th place worldwide and makes the 54-year-old the fourth richest man in Russia. He is the main shareholder and CEO of the steel and mining group Severstal and the gold mining company Nordgold. In 2007 Mordaschow acquired three percent of the German tourism group Tui. Today, almost 25 percent of the stock corporation is owned by the family.
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# 3 Leonid Michelson
Leonid Michelson was the richest man in Russia in the 2019 “Forbes” list. It is currently only enough for third place. The reason, like Putin’s confidante Timchenko, was the drop in the price of gas giant Novatek. According to the ranking, Michelson’s assets decreased by almost seven to $ 17.1 billion. According to Forbes, he holds 48 percent of the largest Russian petrochemical company Sibur, in which Timchenko also has a stake. Michelson therefore bought 17 percent of the shares in Sibur from Putin’s alleged ex-son-in-law.
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# 2 Vladimir Lissin
Vladimir Lissin also had the title of “Richest Man in Russia”. It was almost enough for the top position again this year. Immediately before March 18, however, the share price of its steel producer Novolipetsk Steel fell, according to “Forbes”, by almost 30 percent in the wake of the Corona crisis. According to the analysts, Lissin thus lost $ 3.2 billion and ranked 45th worldwide with $ 18.1 billion.
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# 1 Vladimir Potanin
Vladimir Potanin is the new richest man in Russia. “Forbes” put the wealth of the 59-year-old at $ 19.7 billion (number 41 worldwide). Potanin was the second super-rich in the top 10, who was able to increase his wealth compared to the previous year. According to the report, dividends from the metal giant Nornickel brought the group president an increase of $ 1.6 billion. Potanin was still in sixth place in the 2019 ranking. According to “Forbes”, he also holds shares in the pharmaceutical company Petrovax Pharm. Potanin currently has one major problem: At the end of May, thousands of tons of diesel and chemicals flowed into the landscape from the leaky large tank of a Nornickel power plant north of the Arctic Circle. Potanin then had to be sharply criticized by his “good friend” Putin during a video conference. Despite the tirade of the president, the share price that had dropped after the accident had increased somewhat.