Russian billionaires see wealth rise to over half a trillion dollars, Forbes Russia reports

Forbes Russia reported that Russia’s wealthy added $152 billion to their wealth last year, driven by high natural resource prices and recovering from their massive losses following the Ukraine war.

Forbes’ Russian edition reported 110 official billionaires, up 22 from 2022, with a total worth of $505 billion, up from $353 billion.

Forbes reported that 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—renounced their Russian citizenship, shortening the list.

“Last year’s rating results were also influenced by apocalyptic predictions about the Russian economy,” Forbes stated, noting that Russia’s billionaires had $606 billion in 2021 before the war.

In an attempt to punish President Vladimir Putin for sending soldiers into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2018, the West levied the most punitive sanctions in modern history on Russia’s economy and some of its richest people.

Putin stated the West was trying to destroy Russia and frequently emphasized the inability of Western sanctions to harm the Russian economy or block Western luxury products or basic parts from entering Russia.

Under Western sanctions, Russia sold oil, metals, and other natural resources to China, India, and the Middle East in 2022, shrinking its GDP 2.1%.

This month, the International Monetary Fund upped its 2023 Russian growth projection to 0.7% from 0.3% but dropped its 2024 forecast to 1.3% from 2.1%, citing labor shortages and Western company emigration.

Urals oil, Russia’s lifeblood, averaged $76.09 per barrel in 2022, up from $69 in 2021. Fertilizer prices were high last year.

Forbes named fertilizer magnate Andrei Melnichenko Russia’s richest man with an estimated $25.2 billion, more than quadruple his estimated worth last year. Forbes ranking response was unavailable from Melnichenko.

Vladimir Potanin, president and major shareholder of Nornickel (GMKN.MM), the world’s largest palladium and refined nickel producer, was Russia’s second-richest with $23.7 billion. Forbes ranking commentator Potanin was unavailable.

Vladimir Lisin, who runs steelmaker NLMK (NLMK.MM) and was Russia’s richest man last year, placed third in Forbes Russia with $22.1 billion. Forbes ranking response from Lisin was unavailable.

Russian millionaires consider Western sanctions clumsy and discriminatory.

As the Soviet Union collapsed, a tiny handful of billionaires convinced the Kremlin under late President Boris Yeltsin to give them control over some of the world’s largest oil and metals corporations.

Millions of underprivileged Russians hated the tycoons because privatisation transactions often made them super-rich.

Under Putin, some of the original oligarchs, like Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Boris Berezovsky, lost their fortunes to state firms frequently headed by former spies.

Despite sanctions, new Russian billionaires in Forbes include snack, retail, chemical, building, and pharmaceutical billionaires, showing strong local demand.