Rich Russians Earn Spots on Forbes List but Not Respect At Home
Forbes magazine has released its annual ranking of the world’s wealthiest people and 53 Russian billionaires have made the list. Their combined wealth of 282 billion dollars puts them ahead of the combined wealth of the 55 billionaires of Germany (145 billion dollars).
The richest Russian on the list is Roman Abramovich who owns the British football club Chelsea and is a former oil magnate. His 18.7 billion dollars puts him at number 16 on the Forbes list.
A number of Russians have profited from the boom in commodities prices – 19 have joined the ranks of the 946 billionaires worldwide. A metals magnate, Mikhail Prokhorov is number 38 on the list. He was recently arrested in the French resort town of Courchevel during a prostitution sting.
He is followed by Oleg Deripaska, owner of Rusal, in spot number 40. Rusal is soon to become the largest aluminum producer in the world after merging with Sual and Glencore.
Ordinary Russians are unimpressed. An official from the Russian Orthodox Church feels that the rich are a disgrace for spending their riches for amusement while their fellow countrymen are still earning low wages.
A recent poll by the VTsIOM shows that 67 percent of Russian women and men feel that the oligarchs manipulate political power for their own self-serving interests.
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