Russian billionaires see wealth rise to over half a trillion dollars

April 23, 2023 (MLN): Russia's richest people added $152 billion to their wealth over the past year, buoyed by high prices for natural resources and rebounding from the huge loss of fortunes they experienced just after the Ukraine war began, as Reuters reported. 

According to Forbes Russia, Russia has 110 official billionaires on the list, up 22 from last year, which said their total wealth increased to $505 billion from $353 billion when the 2022 list was announced.

The list would have been longer having not five billionaires - DST Global founder Yuri Milner, Revolut founder Nikolay Storonsky, Freedom Finance founder Timur Turlov, and JetBrains co-founders Sergei Dmitriev and Valentin Kipyatkov - renounced their Russian citizenship, Forbes said.

"Last year's rating results were also influenced by apocalyptic predictions about the Russian economy," Forbes said, adding that the total wealth of Russia's billionaires was $606 billion in 2021 before the war began.

After President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year, the West imposed what it casts as the most severe sanctions in modern history on Russia's economy - and some of its richest people - in an attempt to punish Putin for the war.

Putin said the West was trying to destroy Russia and has repeatedly touted the failure of Western sanctions to destroy the Russian economy, or even stop Western luxury goods - let alone basic parts - from ending up in Russia.

Russia's economy shrank 2.1% in 2022 under the pressure of Western sanctions, but it was able to sell oil, metals, and other natural resources to global markets, in particular to China, India, and the Middle East, it noted. 

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