According to the 2023 Billionaires List published by Forbes, Russian billionaires have increased their total wealth of 353 billion dollars in 2022 to 505 billion dollars this year.
This increase means that each Russian billionaire adds an average of $600 million to his wealth.
The number of super-rich has risen
The number of super-rich Russians has increased over the past year, as have the combined wealth of Russian billionaires. The number of Russian citizens with a total wealth of more than $ 1 billion rose to 110. Last year that number was 88.
The increase in the number and total wealth of Russian billionaires came at a time when Western countries imposed severe sanctions against Russia and the Russian economy shrank by 2.1 percent.
An increase was observed in raw material prices
But besides that, 2022 had been a year in which raw material prices increased steadily, to the advantage of Russia’s super-rich.
Andrey Melnishenko, the owner of the fertilizer producer EuroChem Group and the coal company SUEK, was the richest Russian citizen on Forbes’ list. Melnishenko, one of the names that increased his wealth after the war, added another $7.3 billion to his wealth with the increase in fertilizer prices.
While the nickel and banking giant Vladimir Potantin took the second place, the assets of the Russian capitalist, whose wealth fell to $9.7 billion last year, rose to $23.7 billion again.
Vladimir Lisin, the owner of steel producer NLMK, which has a fortune of 22.1 billion dollars, ranked third.
Russian ruble escape trend at its peak
Forbes cited the fact that last year’s list was completed shortly after the war began, as one of the reasons why Russian billionaires are soaring on the list. In the months following the war, panic occurred in the markets, and the escape trend in the Russian ruble had peaked.
The US, EU and UK impose sanctions on 46 of the 110 rich Russians on the 2023 World Billionaires List.
Russian army calls taxi drivers and market workers to duty
While the Russian economy is recovering from the bad effects of the first period of the war, the Russian army continues to seek soldiers for the war in Ukraine.
Young men working in the service industry are called upon to join the army, in a video broadcast on Russian television on Wednesday evening.
The clip, produced by the Ministry of Defense, shows the daily lives of a taxi driver, a convenience store worker, and a fitness trainer, as young Russians are called upon to prove they are “a real man.”
The commercial was the first attempt by the Kremlin to recruit soldiers on television.