Abramovich Loses Crown As Russia's Billionaires Multiply

The number of billionaires in Russia has gone up from 60 to 110 over the past year, with Russia now boasting more billionaires than any other country apart from the US, a new survey shows today.

Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch and owner of Chelsea FC, has slipped down from first to third place, according to Forbes Russia's 2008 list of the country's wealthiest 100 individuals. His fortune is now put at $24.3bn (£12bn).

Russia's richest man is the aluminum tycoon Oleg Deripaska, with a $28.6bn fortune. The steel billionaire Alexei Mordashov is in second place with $24.5bn, beating Abramovich for the first time.

Today the editor-in-chief of Forbes Russia Maxim Kashulinsky said that Abramovich's declining rating could be explained by his decision back in 2005 to sell his vast oil company Sibneft to Gazprom, Russia's state-owned energy giant.

"Abramovich has been sitting on a pile of cash while other billionaires like Deripaska and Mordashov own successful companies, which keep on growing," Kashulinsky told the Guardian. "The overall growth in the list is attributable not to oil and gas but to metals," he added.

Russia now has more billionaires than any other country other than the US, which boasts 469. The assets of the wealthiest 100 Russians have gone up from $138bn in 2004 to $522bn in 2008 - reflecting Russia's resurgence as a major global economic player.

Intriguingly Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, who steps down on May 7, does not figure in the list. Last December the Guardian and other newspapers reported claims by the political scientist Stanislav Belkovsky, who claimed Putin had secretly accumulated a $40bn fortune.

Putin was the beneficial owner of "more than 75%" of Gunvor, a mysterious Swiss-based oil trader, as well as 37% of Surgutneftegaz, a Russian state oil and exploration company, and 4.5% of Gazprom, Belkovsky alleged. Putin denied the claims for the first time at a Kremlin press conference last month.

Today Kashulinsky said the magazine had not included Putin on its list because it did not count the fortunes of "bureaucrats" and "government workers". "I don't believe he has big assets," he said. He added, however: "There are some friends of Putin on the list who have become billionaires in recent years."

The highest new entrant is Gennady Timchenko, the Swiss-based co-owner of Gunvor, which is now Russia's biggest exporter of oil. His fortune was put at $2.5bn. Last December Gunvor denied that Putin was the beneficial owner of Gunvor but confirmed for the first time that Putin and Timchenko were old friends.

Timchenko's fortune had grown steadily over two decades, Kashulinsky suggested. "He started exporting oil in the 1990s. In the last decade his company became the biggest oil export in Russia. It [his wealth] is understandable," he said.

Asked whether Timchenko's friendship with Putin may have helped him become a billionaire, he said: "Probably … If you look at the others who are not Putin's friends they are not as rich."

Several other Russian businessmen have also seen their fortunes grow dramatically. They include Dmitry Rybolovlev, a potassium fertiliser baron and Russia's 13th richest man, whose wealth has gone up by a staggering $10bn in one year. "This is because there has been a huge growth in demand on the world market for fertiliser," Kashulinsky said.

Alisher Usmanov, the Uzbek-born Russian businessman who owns 24% of Arsenal FC, has also seen his fortune increase. Usmanov is now rated Russia's 19th richest man, with assets estimated at $9.5bn.