The 25 wealthiest Russians have seen their fortunes fall this year, but on average the declines aren’t as bad as U.S. market losses.
Wealthy Russians have seen their fortunes decline this year, as international sanctions imposed since the country’s brutal invasion of Ukraine in February have taken a toll on the economy.
However, the declines have hardly led to the complete collapse forecast or at least hoped for by some commentators at the start of the war, and in fact Russia’s wealthy are doing better than U.S. investors at the moment.
Russian oligarchs had lost $86.9 billion of their net worth through September 28, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. The 25 Russian billionaires on the 500-member index have seen an average decline of 19.52% year-to-date as of Sept. 28 when their combined wealth stood at $294.39 billion.
The S&P 500 index was off just under 22% from where it stood at the end of December as of Sept. 28.
And for further comparison, only one of the Russians on the index have seen a greater percentage decline in their net worth than Meta Platforms founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. His fortune had fallen $71 billion, or 56%, as of earlier this month and Meta stock has fallen even farther since then.
Large Declines for Some
The largest decline in Russian wealth was seen by Viktor Vekselberg whose fortunes have fallen by 60% or $11.1 billion. His net worth stood at $7.38 billion as of Sept. 28.
An ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born businessman whose fortune was amassed through investments in the aluminum and oil industries during the the post-Soviet era. He runs Renova Group, a conglomerate based in Moscow that encompasses metals, mining, tech and other assets.
On Sept. 1, U.S. federal agents searched Vekselberg’s properties in Manhattan, an exclusive Hamptons beach community and a Miami island, which were all linked to the billionaire. Miami-based FBI spokesperson Jim Marshall said the federal authorities conducted a “court-ordered law enforcement activity.”
In April Vekselberg’s $120 million yacht was seized in Spain. The U.S. Justice Department deemed it could be forfeited for Vekselberg’s violations of U.S. bank fraud, money laundering and sanctions laws.
Russian oligarchs have been scrutinized by a U.S. federal task force along with the money that has funded Putin’s invasion of Ukraine that began in February. The task force’s goal is to impose financial restrictions on the country and its oligarchs.
Roman Abramovich saw his net worth drop by 46% or a loss of $8.3 billion, the second largest percentage decline, putting his current net worth at $9.69 billion.
The billionaire that incurred the third highest level of losses is Gennady Timchenko whose worth fell by $9.3 billion, or 41.5%, to $13.1 billion.
Some Russian Fortunes are Rising
Three Russian billionaires on the index have actually seen their fortunes rise since the beginning of the year.
The third largest increase came as Andrey Skoch’s fortune rose by 3.5% or $177 million, bringing his net worth to $5.2 billion. He has been a member of the State Duma, Russia’s legislative body, since 1999 and his wealth is from USM, a metals and mining company. His shares are held by his daughter Varvara and his father Vladimir since he is a member of the Duma.
In 2018 he was sanctioned by the U.S. for “longstanding ties to Russian organized criminal groups,” allegations that he denied. The U.K. and EU sanctioned him in 2022.
The second largest increase in wealth among the Russians was for Tatyana Bakalchuk, whose fortune rose by 9.9% or $560 million to a total net worth of $6.17 billion. She founded e-commerce retailer Wildberries in 2004 which sold over $3.5 billion worth of apparel in 2019.
Andrey Guryev, the former head of PhosAgro, one of the four largest producers of phosphate-based fertilizer, saw his net worth rise by 33.8% or $2.68 billion with a total net worth of $10.6 billion.
He is extremely close to Putin (who does not appear on the Bloomberg index). Guryev owns the Witanhurst, which is often described as London’s second-largest home after Buckingham Palace.
