Twenty-three Russian billionaires, who were among the 500 richest people in the world, lost $67 billion — 20% of their total fortunes — in the year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As of February 23, 2022, they collectively had $339 billion in equity.
This is reported by Bloomberg.
The biggest "loser" is Oleksiy Mordashov, the main owner of Severstal PJSC, one of the largest steel producers in Russia. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he lost $6.7 billion, now his fortune is $19.8 billion.
The second largest decline belongs to another metallurgical tycoon Volodymyr Lisin. The Chairman of the Board of Novolypetsk Metallurgical Combine lost $5.8 billion over the past year, as a result of which his fortune decreased to $20.5 billion.
Andriy Huryev, on the other hand, has earned $2.1 billion since the beginning of the war thanks to the sharp increase in the value of PhosAgro shares, one of the largest producers of phosphorus fertilizers in Europe. He is the founder of the company, and his family is its largest shareholder.
However, an analysis of the richest Russians shows that several rounds of sanctions by the USA, UK and the European Union have had limited long-term effect. In fact, the combined net worth of billionaires bottomed out a few weeks after the invasion, falling from $92 billion to $248 billion on March 9, 2022.
- On February 24, 2023, the anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Great Britain and the United States introduced new sanctions against the Russian Federation.
- On February 15, the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen presented an official proposal regarding the tenth package of sanctions against Russia. The European Commission proposes further export bans that will cost the Russian Federation more than €11 billion and deprive its economy of critical technologies and industrial products. We are talking about goods that Russia will not be able to get from other countries: electronics, special vehicles, car parts, spare parts for trucks and airplanes, goods for the construction sector that can be used by the Russian military. However, the EU could not agree on these sanctions due to Polandʼs objections — it demands to make them tougher.