Abramovich tops Forbes Russia rich list

MOSCOW – In Russia, the rich just keep getting richer.

Forbes magazine’s annual survey of the wealthiest 100 Russian citizens published yesterday counted 60 dollar billionaires -16 more than a year ago- and was topped for the third year running by Roman Abramovich and his US$19.2 billion fortune. The Chelsea soccer club owner’s wealth, built on oil and now anchored in steel, grew a modest 5 per cent over the last year, largely because of generous funding of the remote Chukotka region he governs and commitments to state-backed projects.Abramovich’s No.1 spot was untroubled by his divorce earlier this year, which under Russian law could have cost him half his fortune and left both him and his ex-wife Irina in equal 11th place in the rankings.Behind the 40-year-old soccer patron was a chasing pack of oil and metals magnates led by aluminium tycoon Oleg Deripaska with $16.8 billion, mainly the beneficiaries of Russia’s swift privatisation of its huge natural resources in the 1990s.In 55th place, with $1.1 billion, was Boris Berezovsky, a Kremlin power-broker under President Boris Yeltsin who fell foul of his successor, Vladimir Putin, and now lives in political asylum in London.Berezovsky said he had sold all his former Russian assets and now kept his money in bank accounts and liquid assets, Forbes said.But with the cost of home security – including a lift needing a secret code and a front door lock requiring a scan of his fingerprint – Berezovsky’s money might not last long enough for him to return to Russia, the magazine quipped.Forbes said the list included people who had accumulated most of their money through business and were not in government service.It did not elaborate.Nampa-ReutersThe Chelsea soccer club owner’s wealth, built on oil and now anchored in steel, grew a modest 5 per cent over the last year, largely because of generous funding of the remote Chukotka region he governs and commitments to state-backed projects.Abramovich’s No.1 spot was untroubled by his divorce earlier this year, which under Russian law could have cost him half his fortune and left both him and his ex-wife Irina in equal 11th place in the rankings.Behind the 40-year-old soccer patron was a chasing pack of oil and metals magnates led by aluminium tycoon Oleg Deripaska with $16.8 billion, mainly the beneficiaries of Russia’s swift privatisation of its huge natural resources in the 1990s.In 55th place, with $1.1 billion, was Boris Berezovsky, a Kremlin power-broker under President Boris Yeltsin who fell foul of his successor, Vladimir Putin, and now lives in political asylum in London.Berezovsky said he had sold all his former Russian assets and now kept his money in bank accounts and liquid assets, Forbes said.But with the cost of home security – including a lift needing a secret code and a front door lock requiring a scan of his fingerprint – Berezovsky’s money might not last long enough for him to return to Russia, the magazine quipped.Forbes said the list included people who had accumulated most of their money through business and were not in government service.It did not elaborate.Nampa-Reuters