The fortunes of the country’s top billionaires grew by billions of dollars last year

The combined net worth of Russia’s wealthiest people jumped by $50 billion in 2023, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. It marks a significant change, after their fortunes shrank by $93.7 billion in 2022 due to Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia and its businesspeople. The total net worth of the 25 Russian billionaires listed in the index stood at $328.53 billion as of January 2.

Vladimir Potanin, the owner of mining giant Norilsk Nickel, remained Russia’s richest person on the list, having increased his wealth by $2.49 billion from the previous year, to $31.1 billion. Second place is currently held by Leonid Mikhelson, the co-owner of Novatek, Russia’s second-largest natural gas producer. He earned $2.83 billion in 2023, bringing his capital to $27.5 billion.

Vagit Alekperov, the ex-boss of Russian energy giant Lukoil and who still owns a large chunk of the company’s shares, came in third. He earned $9.3 billion last year, increasing his net worth to $24.7 billion. Vladimir Lisin, the chairman of NLMK, Russia’s largest steelmaker, was ranked as the fourth-richest with $23.9 billion as of the end of the year (up $4.08 billion). Alisher Usmanov, who owns 49% of USM, an investment group that controls Russia’s largest iron ore producer Metalloinvest, as well as the MegaFon mobile operator, closed off the top-five. His fortune jumped by $2.61 billion last year to $21.1 billion.

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Bloomberg’s list also included the chairman of steel giant Severstal, Alexey Mordashov, the founder of the Eurochem and SUEK companies, Andrei Melnichenko, Mikhail Prokhorov (Onexim group), Gennady Timchenko (Novatek and Sibur co-owner) and Mikhail Fridman (Alfa Group). Out of the 25 Russian billionaires on the list, only one saw his fortune decrease in 2023: the net worth of Vyacheslav Kantor, a major shareholder of Russian fertilizer producer Acron, shrank by $149 million over the past year, to $6.21 billion.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index is 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.

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