Russia’s billionaires increased their wealth by $72 billion last year, reaching $577 billion, according to Forbes, with Vagit Alekperov, former chairman of the largest oil company Lukoil, in first place.
Forbes magazine estimated in 2021, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, that the total assets of Russian billionaires reached $606 billion.
High commodity prices over the past two years and Russia’s war-focused economic growth, which is muffled by the impact of Western sanctions, have contributed to the rebound in that number’s direction.
Many Russian billionaires have been hit by Western sanctions as the West sought to punish President Vladimir Putin and those perceived to be close to him for starting the war in Ukraine. Their total wealth is down to $353 billion in 2022.
Alekperov’s fortune increased to $28.6 billion from $20.5 billion last year, Forbes writes. He moved into first place from ninth place now held by Andriy Melnichenko, who built his fortune in fertilizers and whose wealth fell to $21.1 billion from $25.2 billion.
Leonid Mikkelson, CEO of gas company Novatek, who was ranked second by Forbes, saw his fortune rise by $5.8 billion to $27.4 billion.
Forbes reports that there are more billionaires worldwide today than ever before, 2,781 in total, and the top 20 account for most of the increase in wealth. Alekperov is ranked 59th in the world.
“They are richer than ever, with total wealth reaching $14.2 trillion, up $2 trillion by 2023,” Forbes reports.
Putin has repeatedly highlighted the failure of Western sanctions to damage the Russian economy and has highlighted the fact that Russia’s economy grew faster last year – with GDP growth of 3.6% – than any of the Group of Seven countries that are largely responsible for the sanctions.
With vast natural resources, Russia’s economy has rebounded sharply from the recession of 2022, but growth is largely based on the production of weapons and ammunition for the war in Ukraine, covering problems that prevent Russians from improving their living standards.
For this year, International Monetary Fund experts expect Russian GDP to grow by 2.6%, but predict that there will be difficult times for the economy due to the outflow of people and shortages in technology
Russian businessmen have actually benefited from the withdrawal of Western companies, with many companies selling their assets cheaply or having their Russian operations seized and local managers installed.
Source: APE – MEB
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