Russian Billionaires Grow Richer Despite War and Sanctions
Russian billionaires increased their combined wealth by 11% to a record $696.5bn over the past year, despite the war in Ukraine and what Forbes describes as the toughest Western sanctions imposed on a major economy. The findings come from the Forbes Russia ranking.
The wealth of Russia's billionaires remains closely tied to natural resource exports, with valuations boosted by disrupted trade flows and rising commodity prices. No new names have appeared at the top of the ranking.
According to Forbes, the richest Russian is Alexei Mordashov of Severgroup, whose fortune stands at $37bn, up $8.4bn year on year. Vladimir Potanin is second with $29.7bn, followed by former Lukoil chief Vagit Alekperov at $29.5bn. Leonid Mikhelson of Novatek and his family rank fourth with $28.3bn.
Russian oligarchs, once counted among the world's wealthiest individuals, now lag far behind America's tech billionaires. Elon Musk leads the global rankings with a fortune of $839bn, followed by Google co-founder Larry Page with $257bn.