Russians still live their best lives. The wealth of the oligarchs is swelling

The wealth of the most important oligarchs in Russia has increased by over 20 billion dollars since the beginning of the year - according to the latest ranking of the richest people in the world, prepared by Bloomberg agency. The founder of the oil company Lukoil has earned the most since January 2023.

According to the Bloomberg index, Vladimir Potanin, the owner of Norilsk Nickel, a company dealing with the mining and smelting of palladium and nickel, is Russia's richest businessman. Even though his wealth has decreased by $210 million, it still amounts to $28.4 billion.

However, Potanina is being chased by Leonid Mikelson, co-owner of Novatek, the largest private natural gas producer in Russia. Since the beginning of the year, he has earned 2.68 billion dollars, increasing his wealth to 27.3 billion dollars.

The podium of the wealthiest Russian oligarchs is closed by Vladimir Lisin, the president of NLMK company, which produces, among others, steel. Since the beginning of the year, his wealth has increased by $3.42 billion to $23.3 billion.

In total, as calculated by the "Kommiersant" newspaper, Russians listed in the ranking of the 500 richest people in the world, have increased their wealth by 21.3 billion dollars since the beginning of the year. The mostearned by Vagit Alekperov, the founder of the oil company Lukoil - his wealth has grown by 6.4 billion dollars to 21.8 billion dollars.

For comparison, let's add that in 2022, when Vladimir Putin's regime attacked Ukraine, the wealthiest Russian oligarchs lost nearly 94 billion dollars. And just on February 24th last year, when the illegal invasion began - 46.6 billion dollars.

According to the latest Bloomberg ranking, the richest person in the world is Elon Musk, with a net worth estimated at 232 billion dollars. Also on the podium are Bernard Arnault (167 billion dollars) and Jeff Bezos (151 billion dollars).