A record number of Russians made the Forbes list
3 April 2024 10:01
The Forbes magazine ranking of the world’s richest people includes 125 Russian billionaires. Despite the war and sanctions, this figure has become a record, reports Komersant ukrainskyi 
citing the Russian Forbes.
The number of Russian billionaires in the Forbes global ranking increased from 110 to 125 over the year. At the same time, in 2022, after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the number of billionaires from Russia in the ranking dropped to 88. The previous record was set in 2021 – 123 people.
Forbes named Lukoil owner Vagit Alekperov the richestRussian with a net worth of $28.6 billion.
Leonid Mikhelson, Chairman of the Board of Novatek, is on the second line of the ranking, with Forbes estimating his wealth at $27.4 billion ($5.8 billion). Last year’s leader, the founder of Eurochem and SUEK, Andrey Melnichenko, dropped to seventh place, his wealth decreased by $4.1bn to $21.1bn over the year.
The wealth of Russian billionaires increased to $576.8 billion over the year. However, this figure is still lower than the record set in 2021, when the total capital of 123 billionaires was $606.2 billion.
There could have been even more Russians on the list, but 10 billionaires in the ranking had previously renounced their Russian citizenship. Now Alexander Gerko ($10.4 billion) and Nikolai Storonsky ($2.7 billion) represent the UK, Yuri Milner ($5.9 billion) – Israel, Timur Turlov ($3.3 billion) – Kazakhstan, Sergey Dmitriev ($2,9 billion), Valentin Kipyatkov ($2.1 billion), Igor Makarov ($2.1 billion), Vladimir Krupchak ($1.2 billion) – Cyprus, Vasily Anisimov ($1.7 billion) – Croatia and Ruben Vardanyan ($1.1 billion) – Armenia.
They were replaced by new billionaires. This year, there are 19 newcomers from Russia in the Forbes ranking, the third highest number after 2008 and 2011. Most of the new billionaires have made their fortune in the consumer sector – retail, agriculture and housing.
The publication notes that the withdrawal of foreign companies from the Russian market has led to the emergence of two new groups of billionaires. The first are foreign brands that have benefited from the exodus, such as the owners of clothing chains. The second are the Russian assets of foreign corporations that bought them at a discount. As a result, the richest newcomer is Ivan Tavrin ($2.4bn), who bought Avito and a number of other assets from foreign owners.
Earlier, Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriy Kostin said that it is now necessary to increase sanctions pressure on the aggressor state of Russia and introduce sectoral sanctions that will hit the Russian economy.
