How many oligarchs in Russia, probably, even Forbes employees will be difficult to calculate: the country is large and the number of dollar millionaires in it is only increasing every year. However, in the TOP of the richest people in the Russian Federation, the same people fight for the first place from year to year. So who are the Russian billionaires?
Oligarchs of Russia: photo, biography of Vladimir Potanin
In 2015, Vladimir Potanin was recognized as the richest man in Russia. Potanin made his way to the oligarchs of Russia back in 2006: then the businessman became the sixth person in the country in terms of we alth. In 2007, the president of the Interros holding moved up to 4th place. Then for several years he lost his position in the top five richest people in the country, until in 2015 he reached the first place in the Forbes ranking.
Potanin once studied at MGIMO at the Faculty of International Economic Relations. In Soviet times, the future businessman was a member of the Komsomol and worked in the field of foreign trade of the USSR.
In the 90s, like many enterprising people, Potanin went into privatebusiness and founded one of the largest investment companies in Russia - Interros. A little later, Vladimir Olegovich received the post of vice president of MFK bank and president of ONEXIM Bank. Thanks to loans-for-shares auctions in 1995, ONEXIM Bank became the owner of 51 percent of the shares of Norilsk Nickel. To date, Potanin has only 30.3% of MMC shares, but this was enough to turn into the richest oligarch in Russia by 2015.
Mikhail Fridman
The list of Russian oligarchs has consistently included the owner of the Alfa Group consortium, Mikhail Fridman, for many years. In 2015, Fridman took second place in the Forbes ranking as the richest businessman in Russia.
And it all started with the fact that in the 1980s, Mr. Fridman resold scarce tickets to major Moscow theaters, and also organized discos. Then he decided to increase his income and created the Courier cooperative, which was engaged in washing windows. In 1989, Friedman switched to selling photographic materials and computer equipment, and then turned to exporting oil. This is how the Alfa Group company appeared, which to this day feeds its creator.
But Fridman did not stop there and eventually joined the board of directors of Alfa-Bank, invested in the mobile operator Life, Belmarket and BelEvroset. Friedman also managed to visit the board of directors of the ORT association and the SIDANCO Oil Company.
Mikhail Fridman's personal capital in 2015 amounted to 14.6 billiondollars.
Alisher Usmanov
Russian oligarchs often do charity work. In this regard, Alisher Usmanov is widely known, who for many years has supported the Russian rhythmic gymnastics team, redeems and returns historical values to Russia and even returns Nobel medals to their owners (the case of Jason Watson). In 2013, Usmanov even became the No. 1 philanthropist among Russian businessmen according to Forbes.
For three years (from 2012 to 2014) Usmanov held the title of the richest businessman in Russia. But in 2015, he changed first place to third: his personal fortune decreased from $18 billion to $14.4.
Alisher Burkhanovich started his career with the production of plastic bags. Today, the businessman is fed shares in companies such as USM Holdings, Megafon, Mail.ru Group and DST Global, as well as YuTV Holding. Since 2014, Alisher Usmanov has had full control over the famous social network VKontakte.
Viktor Vekselberg
Russian oligarchs are included not only in domestic ratings of influential persons, but also in foreign lists. Viktor Vekselberg, for example, was in 113th place in the TOP of the most influential and richest people in the world as of 2010. In 2015, in Russia, a businessman ranked 4th in terms of we alth: Vekselberg's personal assets amount to $14.2 billion.
A huge fortune Viktor Feliksovich was allowed to earn by theRenova company. Over time, the company has grown into a large business group that owns shares in UC Rusal, Integrated Energy Systems, Russian Utility Systems and many others. Vekselberg also owns shares in some Swiss companies, such as Oerlikon and Sulzer.
Vekselberg likes to repeat in interviews that money is not only hard to earn, but also hard to use properly. Given the stability of the entrepreneur's income, he knows how to properly distribute his funds.
Alexey Mordashov
Alexey Mordashov, who is considered the actual owner of OAO Severstal, in 2011 was in second place among the richest entrepreneurs in the country. However, the Russian oligarchs pushed the businessman on the list, and in 2015 he ranks only fifth with his personal capital of $13 billion.
Mordashov began his career at the Cherepovets Metallurgical Plant. After some time, the businessman had already bought up all the shares of ChMK and put all the profits from the sale of metals to the West in his pocket. To date, the entrepreneur has a 79% stake in Severstal, 88% in Nord Gold and 100% in Power Machines.
Vagit Alekperov
Vagit Alekperov in 2006 had a personal capital of 12.7 billion rubles and ranked second in the Forbes ranking of the richest businessmen in Russia. Since then, little has changed: Alekperov still has the same capital, but has dropped to sixth position in the list.
Vagit Yusufovich began his career in business in the 1980s, taking the post of general director of Kogalymneftegaz. The entrepreneur did not leave the oil industry after the collapse of the Soviet Union and founded the LangepasUrayKogalymneft concern. To date, Vagit Alekperov has a 22.7% stake in Lukoil and, so to speak, does not live in poverty.
Billionaires not only get rich, but sometimes go bankrupt. Every year, the list called "former oligarchs of Russia" is replenished with new faces. Among them are such persons as banker Sergei Pugachev, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Some bankrupt billionaires are wanted for embezzlement and embezzlement. They immigrate abroad, file lawsuits in European courts and try to defend their name in the press, claiming that the Russian authorities are to blame for all their troubles.
Business and politics have always been interconnected, in these areas there is always a hidden and obvious confrontation. Everyone protects their interests in every possible way. Therefore, no one will probably know the real truth.
