The combined net worth of Russia’s wealthiest people has jumped by $31 billion since the start of the year, despite unprecedented sanctions pressure, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
A total of 25 Russian billionaires are listed in the ranking of the world’s 500 richest people as of September 30.
Vladimir Potanin, the owner of mining giant Norilsk Nickel, remained Russia’s richest person on the list, occupying 56th spot globally. The nickel magnate is estimated to have increased his wealth by $1.57 billion in the first three quarters of the year, to $32.6 billion.
Second place is held by Vladimir Lisin, the chairman of NLMK, Russia’s largest steelmaker. The businessman added $4.27 billion to his wealth this year and is worth an estimated $28.2 billion. At the start of the year, Bloomberg ranked Lisin as the fourth-richest Russian.
Vagit Alekperov, the former boss of Russian energy giant Lukoil, in which he still owns a large chunk of shares, is third. According to Bloomberg, Alekperov has earned nearly $3 billion this year, increasing his net worth to $27.5 billion.
The largest jump in wealth was posted by Andrey Melnichenko, the founder of fertilizer producer EuroChem and thermal coal supplier Suek. He is Russia’s sixth-richest man and added over $6 billion to his wealth in January-September, which now totals $25 billion, Bloomberg estimated.
Potanin, Alekperov, and Melnichenko are among the raft of Russian businessmen who have been slapped with unprecedented Western sanctions since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022.
Telegram founder and owner Pavel Durov is number 310 on the Bloomberg list with a net worth of $9.07 billion. The tech mogul, who was detained in France in August and charged with multiple offences was attributed a loss of $85 million. The charges against Durov range from refusal to cooperate with authorities to administering an online platform allegedly used by criminals. The French case against him is ongoing.
Russia’s richest woman, Tatyana Bakalchuk, the founder and chief executive of the country's largest online retailer Wildberries, has added an estimated $3 billion to her wealth and is now reportedly worth $8.51 billion. Bakalchuk has recently reverted to her maiden name, Kim, following a bitter property feud with her estranged husband, which led to a deadly shooting outside the Wildberries headquarters in Moscow last month.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index purports to be a ranking of the world’s 500 richest people and is calculated on the basis of the share price of the companies in which those listed own shares. According to the index, top Russian billionaires amassed an additional $50 billion in 2023.