BillionairesThese are the richest Russian oligarchs
Russia’s oligarchs are not immune either. According to Forbes, the wealth of the ten richest people in the country has fallen within one year by 27 billion to 152 billion US dollars. With that, you’re in good company. Worldwide every second billionaire on the “Forbes” rich list was “poorer” on March 18, 2020 than a year earlier. According to the US magazine, the Russian super-rich were 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, wealth is more crisis-proof in Russia than in other parts of the world.
Russian billionaires are super rich
True, there is a new richest man in Russia. However, according to the “Forbes” analysis, none of the top ten had to vacate their place in the best list. The fact that Vladimir Putin’s empire works differently can already be seen from the comparison with the USA. According to Forbes, the United States currently has 614 billionaires. Russia has only 99 super-rich to show. In the US there is one billionaire for every 500,000 people. In Russia there is one billionaire for every 1.5 million people. Russian tycoons are so few and far between, 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 America made their money from innovation and the purchasing power of the population. In Russia, natural resources and good relations with the Kremlin are the way to the top. And while the list of the 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
According to Forbes, Roman Abramovich is the tenth richest Russian with a fortune of 11.3 billion dollars. The 53-year-old oligarch was ranked 113th among the richest people worldwide. Like seven other members of the top 10, he lost at least $ 1 billion within a year. Abramowitsch owes his fortune to the shares in the steel giants Evraz and Nornickel, the world market leader in the mining of nickel and palladium. The oligarch does not always get his way, but he knows how to get by. When his UK investor visa was not renewed in 2018, the owner of Chelsea FC simply obtained Israeli citizenship.
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# 9 Andrei Melnichenko
Andrei Melnichenko was 48 years old on the cut-off date of the “Forbes” list. That made him the youngest of Russia’s ten richest billionaires. He is the majority owner of the fertilizer manufacturer EuroChem and the largest Russian coal producer SUEK. Melnichenko began his career in the 1990s with a chain of exchange offices. According to the ranking, it currently weighs 12.5 billion dollars and ranks 95th worldwide.
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# 8 Mikhail Fridman
Fridman was born in 1964 in what is now Ukraine. Like Abramovich, he has Israeli citizenship and lives most of the time in Great Britain. Fridman is the founder of Alfa Bank, which, according to Forbes, is the largest non-state-controlled bank in the country. In 2013, he earned $ 5.1 billion from the sale of his shares in the TNK-BP oil company. Fridman ranks 86th in the global ranking with $ 13 billion.
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# 7 Alisher Usmanov
Only two tycoons of this top 10 were able to increase their wealth against the general downward trend. One of them is Alisher Usmanov. According to Forbes, his fortune grew by around 800 million to 13.4 billion dollars within a year. The 66-year-old laid the foundation for his wealth in the times of the Soviet Union with the production of plastic bags, which were a rarity in the country at the time. Today Usmanov’s fortune is based on the shares in the steel giant Metallinvest and various holdings, including Facebook and Xiaomi.
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# 6 Gennady Timchenko
According to Forbes, Gennady Timchenko is one of the most powerful men in Russia and has a close relationship with President Putin. However, he has lost almost a third of his fortune within a year and has slipped from third to sixth place at $ 14.4 billion. The reason was, according to the report, a price drop in the shares of his gas company Novatek by 50 percent.
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# 5 Wagit Alekperov
Vagit Alekperov was one of the most powerful men in the oil and gas industry in the USSR. The mining engineer continued this career in the Russian Federation. He founded the mineral oil company Lukoil. The joint-stock company, almost a quarter of which is owned by the chairman of the board, Alekperov, is, according to Forbes, the largest company in Russia after the state-owned groups Sberbank and Rosneft. The 69-year-old ranks 65th among the richest people in the world with $ 15.2 billion.
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# 4 Alexei Mordashov
“Forbes” estimates Alexei Mordashov’s fortune at $ 16.8 billion. That 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 Mordashov acquired three percent of the German tourism group Tui. Today almost 25 percent of the stock corporation is family owned.
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# 3 Leonid Michelson
Leonid Michelson was the richest man in Russia on the 2019 Forbes list. Currently it is only enough for third place. As with Putin’s confidante Timchenko, the reason is the fall in the price of gas giant Novatek. According to the ranking, Michelson’s fortune fell by almost seven billion dollars to 17.1 billion dollars. According to Forbes, he holds 48 percent of the largest Russian petrochemical company Sibur, in which Timchenko also has a stake. Michelson bought 17 percent of the shares in Sibur from Putin’s alleged ex-son-in-law.
@imago images / ITAR-TASS
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# 2 Vladimir Lissin
Vladimir Lissin also held the title of “Richest Man in Russia”. It was almost enough for the top position again this year. Immediately before March 18th, however, the share price of its steel producer Novolipetsk Steel fell by almost 30 percent in the wake of the Corona crisis, according to Forbes. According to the analysts, Lissin lost $ 3.2 billion as a result and came in 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 59-year-old’s fortune at 19.7 billion dollars (41st place 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 at the metal giant Nornickel brought the group president an increase of 1.6 billion dollars. In the 2019 ranking, Potanin was still in sixth place. According to Forbes, he also holds shares in the pharmaceutical company Petrovax Pharm. Potanin currently has a big problem: At the end of May, thousands of tons of diesel and chemicals flowed into the landscape from the leaky tank of a nornickel power plant north of the Arctic Circle. Potanin then had to allow himself to be sharply criticized by his “good friend” Putin during a video conference. The share price, which slumped after the accident, rose again despite the president’s tirade.
