Despite the sanctions, Russian billionaires have earned $18.3 billion since the beginning of the year. Andrey Melnichenko, the founder of Eurochem and SUEK, has seen the biggest increase in wealth.
This is reported by Deutsche Welle with reference to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, UNN reports .
Details
According to Bloomberg, the total wealth of 25 Russian billionaires has increased by $18.3 billion since the beginning of 2024, despite Western sanctions. The co-founder of Eurochem and SUEK, Andrey Melnichenko, earned the most in 2024 - $5.29 billion. Melnichenko's total wealth is $24.1 billion. Alisher Usmanov, the founder of USM Holdings, suffered the largest losses from the beginning.
In three months, his wealth decreased by $2.8 billion to $18.3 billion. The top 10 richest Russians also include Vladimir Potanin, co-owner of Norilsk Nickel (his wealth has increased by $768 million to $31.8 billion since the beginning of the year), Vladimir Lisin, beneficiary of NLMK (plus $2.91 billion to $26.9 billion), and Leonid Mikhelson, co-owner of NRMATEK (minus $747 million to $26.7 billion), LUKOIL co-owner Vagit Alekperov (plus 1.79 billion, to 26.4 billion), Severstal beneficiary Alexei Mordashov (plus 3.75 billion, to 24.6 billion), Onexim Group owner Mikhail Prokhorov (plus 1, 38 billion, to 17.1 billion), Alfa Group founder Mikhail Fridman (plus 1.21 billion, to 13.5 billion), and Gennadiy Timchenko, co-owner of NRMATEK and Sibur (minus 1.45 billion, to 12.7 billion).
Recall
Russians are actively using financial transactions with cryptocurrencies to circumvent western sanctions and buy dual-use goods that are imported to Russia and used to produce weapons that the enemy is using to attack Ukraine.