AFP/Moscow
The number of Russian billionaires almost doubled over the last year to 101, the Russian edition of Forbes magazine said on Friday in its annual rating.A total of 101 businessmen in Russia now have a net worth of $1bn or more, up from 62 last year but still below the 2008 figure of 110. The wealthiest 100 have a net worth of $432bn, according to Forbes, up considerably from last year’s $297bn.Metals tycoon and owner of Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) Vladimir Lisin, 54, continues to top the list by a wide margin with a net worth of $24bn, up from $15.8bn last year. He is followed by Severstal owner Alexei Mordashov ($18.5bn) and Onexim Group owner Mikhail Prokhorov ($18bn).Metal industry asset holders dominate the top five richest, with Vladimir Potanin (Interros) and Alisher Usmanov (Metalloinvest), in fourth and fifth place respectively.Mikhail Friedman (Alfa Group) and Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich dropped out of the top five into seventh and ninth place, respectively.Few of the Russian super-rich lost much money in the last year. One striking exception was construction billionaire Yelena Baturina, whose fortune dwindled from $2.9bn to $1.2bn. Baturina’s husband Yury Luzhkov was sacked as Moscow mayor last September by President Dmitry Medvedev after he became mired in rumours of corruption and granting favours to his wife’s company.Earlier this year Russian business magazine Finans published a different ranking topped by Lisin, Prokhorov and Usmanov.