According to Forbes Russia, the wealthiest Businessman in Russia increased their wealth by 152 billion dollar over the previous year. Helped by strong natural resource prices and recovering from the significant losses of fortunes they experienced immediately after the start of the Ukraine war.
The Russian version of Forbes said that 110 Russians made the list of official billionaires. A rise of 22 from the previous year, and that their combined fortune climbed from 353 billion dollar to 505 billion dollar since the 2022 list was first revealed.
5 millionaires who gave up their Russian citizenship were , Sergei Dmitriev & Valentin Kipyatkov, DST Global founder Yuri Milner, Timur Turlov, the founder of Freedom Finance, & co-founders of JetBrains according to Forbes.
According to Forbes, “apocalyptic forecasts about the Russian gdp were also a factor in previous year’s rating results.” Noting that the combined net worth of Russia’s billionaires was 606 billion dollar in 2021, prior to the start of the war.
On February 24 of previous year, President Vladimir Putin gave the order to send soldiers into Ukraine. And in an effort to punish him for starting the war. The West placed sanctions on Russia’s economy and some of its wealthiest citizens.
Putin claimed that the West was attempting to destroy Russia. And he has frequently bragged about how Western sanctions have failed to ruin the Russian economy or even to halt the import of Western luxury goods, let alone essential components.
Under the burden of Western sanctions, Russia’s economy contracted 2.2 percent in 2022. But it was still able to export oil, metals, and others natural resources to other markets, particularly China, India, & the Middle East.
Top Wealthiest businessmen of Russia
The IMF increased its projection for Russian growth in 2023 from 0.3 percent to 0.7 percent this month. But cut its forecast for 2024 from 2.1 percent to 1.3 percent because it anticipated that shortages of labour. And the migration of Western corporations would hurt the country’s economy.
The price of Urals oil, which powers the Russian economy, increased from 69 dollar per barrel in 2021 to an average of 76.09 dollar per barrel in 2022. The cost of fertiliser was also higher the previous year.
Forbes classified fertiliser tycoon Andrei Melnichenko as the wealthiest person in Russia with an estimated net worth of 25.3 billion dollar, more than doubling the figure for the previous year. For a quick response on the Forbes rating, Melnichenko was unavailable.
With a net worth of 23.7 billion dollar, Nornickel’s president and principal shareholders Vladimir Potanin is the 2nd richest person in Russia.
Nornickel is the greatest manufacturer of refined nickel & palladium in the world. Potanin could not be contacted right away to provide a response regarding the Forbes rating.
Vladimir Lisin, the owner of the steelmaker NLMK and the richest man in Russia according to Forbes last year, came in 3rd on the list with a net worth of 22.1 billion dollar.
Forbes’ list of newly added Russian names includes billionaires who made their money in the snack, the supermarket, chemical, construction, and pharmaceutical industries, demonstrating that consumer demand in Russia remains strong despite the sanctions.