32 billion dollars, equivalent to 28.2 billion euros at current exchange rates. This is how much the fortunes of Russia’s super-rich have lost this year, marked by rising tensions between Moscow and Kiev, which has already prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin to recognize the independence of Donetsk and Lugansk and send Russian troops to them. . regions in eastern Ukraine.
Now, with Western sanctions on Moscow and a possible drop in global stock prices, the gap could become much larger, Bloomberg says on Tuesday.
Gennady Timchenko tops the list of Russian millionaires whose fortunes have fallen the most since January 1, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Timchenko, 69, is the son of a Soviet army officer and has been friends with Putin since the early 1990s, and his fortune has shrunk from $24 billion to $16 billion. Timchenko’s fortune comes from his stake in the gas company Novatek.
And Leonid Mikhelson, a shareholder in Novatek, has seen his fortune drop by $6.2 billion this year, while Vagit Alekperov, chairman of the oil company Lukoil, has run into a $3.5 billion shortfall in his fortune.
The total wealth of Russia’s $23 billion billionaires is $343 billion (€302.4 billion), compared to $375 billion (€330.6 billion) at the end of 2021.
Timchenko, by the way, is one of the individuals sanctioned by the UK, along with Boris Rotenberg, 65, and his nephew Igor, 48, whose families made fortunes from the gas pipeline construction company Stroygazmontazh.
Igor’s father, Arkady, was one of Putin’s ex-partners in judo and sold the company in 2019 for about $1.3 billion.
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