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Where does the term oligarch come from? Most people probably think of Putin’s super-rich friend Roman Abramovich in this context.
Meaning of the term: This is an oligarch
In connection with Russia and President Putin, the word “oligarch” is often mentioned. Intuitively, one realizes that these must be very wealthy and influential people if the Russian head of state surrounds himself with them.
- Oligarchy comes from Greek and means rule by the few. Unlike in aristocracy, however, these few people do not necessarily have to be nobles.
- Oligarchs are rather very wealthy people. In Russia, they have generally made their fortunes from the extraction of natural resources. Most of them produce oil or gas.
- After the collapse of the USSR, they seized their opportunity and rose to prominence through nepotism and clever tactics.
- Their money gives them influence, which they also exert on the Kremlin. They profit from the system and influence the system.
- Politics, in turn, provides advantages for the oligarchs. But politics also benefits from the international contacts of the oligarchs, who are very well connected.
- According to an unconfirmed legend, Putin is said to have thrown a barbecue party in May 2000, to which he invited the Russian business magnates. He is said to have offered them to let the Wild West past rest and not to interfere with the business of the rich, as long as the billionaires stayed out of politics and paid their taxes.
- In other countries, the term “tycoon” has become established. Oligarchy is therefore not a Russian phenomenon.
- Since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, oligarchs such as TUI major shareholder Alexei Mordashov have turned away from Putin because the sanctions appear to be having a significant effect after all.
- As already mentioned, the oligarch is not a Russian or Ukrainian invention. In Mexico, telecommunications billionaire Carlos Slim is similarly influential.
- Silvio Berlusconi, Michael Bloomberg, Bill Gates, Conrad Hilton, and Rupert Murdoch are also considered tycoons and are thus the Western counterparts to the Eastern European oligarchs.
Some facts about Russian oligarchs
Like all rich people, oligarchs are very different. Some like to show off and openly exercise their influence. Others live extravagantly off their money, while still others keep a low profile in the background.
- According to Welt aktuell (as of 11/2025), the richest Russian is Vladimir Lisin. He is 54 years old. The steel entrepreneur has a fortune of $18.8 billion.
- Depending on the source, between 70 and 85 billionaires and over 100,000 millionaires are said to live in Moscow alone. However, it is difficult to estimate exactly how many there are. In any case, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has cost the country several billion dollars.
- Among the most famous oligarchs are Roman Abramovich, former owner of Chelsea Football Club, Alisher Usmanov, who started out as a plastic bag manufacturer and is now a shareholder in Metallinvest, Facebook, and Xiaomi, and Vladimir Potanin, who was able to reap profits despite an environmental disaster caused by his company Nornickel and criticism from Putin himself.
- The second richest Russian is currently (as of 11/2025) Mikhail Prokhorov. He is 45 years old. The industrialist, who owns Onexim Group, among other companies, has a fortune of over $17.85 billion.
- On March 1, 2022, 26 oligarchs loyal to the Kremlin were on the EU’s sanctions list: These include Tui major shareholder Alexei Mordashov, AlfaBank CEO Mikhail Fridman, banker Pyotr Aven, Transneft CEO Nikolai Tokarev, Rosneft boss Igor Sechin, coal magnate Andrei Melnichenko, and media mogul Alisher Usmanov.
How Russian oligarchs reacted to the war in Ukraine
On February 27, 2022, the first oligarch speaks out against Putin: “War can never be the solution.”
- February 28, 2022: Oligarch Roman Abramovich, owner of English soccer club Chelsea FC, says he is trying to mediate between the parties to the conflict in the Ukraine war. Abramovich was contacted by the Ukrainian side and asked for help in the efforts to find a peaceful solution, said a spokesman for the 55-year-old Russian.
- March 1, 2022: Oligarch Alisher Usmanov suspends his position as president of the International Fencing Federation (FIE) due to sanctions imposed on him by the European Union. In a statement, the 68-year-old Russian described the measures as unfair.
- War in Ukraine: EU sanctions against Tui owner Alexei Mordashov
- Exodus of Russian mega-yachts: Russian oligarchs apparently want to evade EU sanctions by bringing their luxury vessels to safety.
- March 2, 2022: Former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky on ZDF: “There will be resistance in Russia!”
- Under pressure from possible sanctions, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich has announced the sale of Champions League winners Chelsea FC. This brings an end to almost 20 years of ownership of the London club. Abramovich has been the focus of attention in the UK for weeks due to his alleged closeness to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Members of the House of Commons have repeatedly called for him to be added to the sanctions list.
- The British government wants to publish a list of people who are closely associated with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The government has been heavily criticized for weeks for its years of lax attitude toward Russian oligarchs and Putin confidants who invest money in the UK and, in some cases, live there.
- Next week, the House of Commons plans to debate a bill that would make it impossible for foreign investors to hide behind shell companies and straw men when buying real estate.
- March 3, 2022: Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch with close ties to the Kremlin and subject to Western sanctions, has called for an end to the war in Ukraine. “Peace is very important!” the multi-billionaire wrote on Telegram. He said it was crazy to continue delaying negotiations for peace.
- The Russian co-owner of the Nürburgring, Viktor Charitonin, is coming under scrutiny from Rhineland-Palatinate state politicians in connection with the war in Ukraine. The CDU opposition in the Mainz state parliament wants to question the state government on the topic of “Hahn and Nürburgring airports – dependence of real estate in Rhineland-Palatinate on Russian orders/investments” in the interior committee on March 23.
Media mogul Evgeny Lebedev addressed Putin, saying, “As a citizen of Russia, I ask you to end the situation in which Russians are killing their Ukrainian brothers and sisters.” Lebedev, who also has British citizenship and sits in the British House of Lords, published the open letter in the London Evening Standard newspaper, which he owns. He warned that Europe was “on the brink of another world war” and the world was facing a “possible nuclear catastrophe.”
- Russian billionaire Oleg Tinkov also denounced the deaths of “innocent people” in Ukraine as “unthinkable and unacceptable.” “Countries should spend money on treating people and on cancer research, not on wars,” he wrote on Instagram.
- March 4, 2022: Opposition to Putin grows in Russia
- March 6, 2022: The International Judo Federation has removed Russian President Vladimir Putin and his childhood friend and oligarch Arkady Rotenberg from all offices.
- March 9, 2022: Several Russian oligarchs’ luxury jets are stuck in Switzerland.
- Is Chelsea now falling apart? The serious consequences of the Abramovich sanctions
- March 11, 2022: German bureaucratic madness plays into the hands of Russian oligarchs in the implementation of EU sanctions.
- Oligarch Vladimir Potanin warns of counter-sanctions: “It would throw us back to 1917.”
- Regime critic and ex-oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky: “We are now rapidly approaching Putin’s end.”
- March 12, 2022: Italian authorities have seized another mega yacht. The ship, “Sailing Yacht A,” estimated to be worth around 530 million euros, is moored in the port of Trieste. The nearly 143-meter-long three-masted vessel is considered the largest sailing yacht in the world and is attributed to Russian coal billionaire Andrey Melnichenko, who was added to an EU sanctions list after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
- March 15, 2022: “Putin’s financier”: New revelations weigh heavily on Abramovich
- Rich Russians in the crosshairs: On March 15, the European Union enacted its fourth major package of sanctions against Russia. Among other things, it includes an export ban on luxury goods to Russia, which affects not only works of art and expensive watches, but also cars worth more than €50,000.
- March 19, 2022: Confusion over jurisdiction: German authorities unable to access oligarchs’ billions
- March 22, 2022: “We are ashamed of muddling through” – Switzerland plays a double game in the hunt for the oligarchs’ billions
- March 24, 2022: Former oligarch on Lanz claims: “Putin’s next targets will be Poland and the Baltic states”
- This is the mysterious mega-yacht that allegedly belongs to Putin
- The UK has announced further punitive measures against Russia. Prime Minister Boris Johnson also spoke out in favor of tougher sanctions: “The tougher our sanctions, the tighter our economic vise around the Putin regime, the more we can help the Ukrainians, the faster this could be over, I think.”
- The UK had previously announced that it would freeze the assets of 59 Russian and six Belarusian citizens, organizations, and companies. Those affected include the Russian mercenary group Wagner, as well as the head of Russia’s Sberbank and the founder of Tinkoff Bank, among others. The list also includes Polina Kovaleva, the daughter of the alleged mistress of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
- March 27, 2022: Does she belong to Putin? – The mystery surrounding the “Scheherazade” and why Russia’s rich love their yachts so much.
- Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who is close to the Kremlin and subject to Western sanctions, has lamented an “ideological mobilization on all sides” surrounding the war in Ukraine. “I personally always had the impression that this specific armed conflict, this madness (for which we will be ashamed before our descendants for a long time to come), could have been ended three weeks ago through reasonable talks,” Deripaska wrote on his Telegram channel.
- March 29, 2022: Abramovich acts as Putin’s unofficial envoy and has reportedly been jetting between Istanbul, Moscow, and Kyiv to convey messages between Putin and Zelensky. When Abramovich allegedly presented Putin with a letter from Zelensky containing peace terms in Moscow, Putin reportedly flew into a rage. According to The Times, the Russian president said to the oligarch: ” Tell him I will destroy them.”
- Last Wednesday, Abramovich left Turkey, where he is evading sanctions, in a private jet. He suddenly disappeared from radar over the Russian city of Mineralnye Vody—until he suddenly landed at Moscow airport. He then returned to Istanbul and met with Ukrainian politician Rustem Umerov, who is said to be acting as Kiev’s negotiator.
- March 30, 2022: An oligarch for peace? Abramovich’s role in the Ukraine war
- Russian opposition figure in exile Mikhail Khodorkovsky believes that Putin will strike NATO territory. “He will attack NATO countries one way or another – not necessarily with missiles, but with terrorist attacks, for example,” the former oligarch told the weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT.
- April 4, 2022: In a joint operation with US officials, Spanish police search and seize oligarch Viktor Vekselberg’s luxury yacht “Tango” in Mallorca. Vekselberg, one of Russia’s richest men with a fortune worth billions, has been on the US sanctions list since 2018 because of his proximity to Putin. The EU has not yet imposed sanctions on the 64-year-old.
- April 5, 2022: Russian billionaire Vladimir Lisin warns of a possible extension of ruble payments, initially introduced for gas, to other commodities and products. “The transition to ruble payments is throwing us out of the world markets,” the owner of steel giant NLMK told the Russian daily Kommersant.
- Forbes: Russia’s super-rich lose billions of dollars in a few months
- April 11, 2022: Italy seizes luxury villa belonging to former Schumacher colleague Masepin
- April 13, 2022: The government of the Channel Island of Jersey says it has frozen $7 billion (€6.47 billion) of Abramovich’s assets. The Royal Court has issued an order, it said. Jersey is not part of the United Kingdom, but is a Crown dependency, meaning it is directly governed by the British monarchy. The island makes its own decisions, for example on judicial matters.
- April 19, 2022: Oligarch Tinkov has accused the Russian army of committing “massacres” in Ukraine. On Instagram, he called for an end to the “insane war” against the neighboring country. “90 percent of Russians are against this war,” wrote the founder of Tinkoff Bank, who lives abroad. Only a minority supports the war. “But ten percent of every country are idiots.” Russian generals have now realized “that they have a shitty army,” Tinkov wrote. “And how could the army be any good when the rest of the country is shitty and tainted by nepotism, sycophancy, and subservience?”
- April 21, 2022: Discovered at Lake Tegernsee: Putin’s friend Usmanov hid luxury cars in an inconspicuous residential complex
- April 22, 2022: Mysterious deaths: Two Russian oligarch families die within 24 hours
- April 27, 2022: Six dead this year – mysterious deaths among Russian oligarchs are on the rise
- April 28, 2022: Report reveals Abramovich’s billion-dollar disaster at Chelsea FC
- May 5, 2022: “Deficits in the enforcement of sanctions” – Germany tightens the hunt for oligarchs with a new law.
- May 28, 2022: Nothing stands in the way of Chelsea FC’s takeover by a consortium led by US businessman Todd Boehly. On Friday evening, a final agreement was reached on the sale to the consortium, the Premier League club announced. The price is reportedly £4.25 billion (just under five billion euros).
- May 30, 2022: Why more and more Russian superyachts are disappearing from the radar off the Maldives
- June 1, 2022: Thanks to a protective shield, billionaire Putin friend Vladimir Potanin is completely spared from sanctions.
- June 6, 2022: US authorities want to seize two of Roman Abramovich’s planes. According to the Department of Justice, these are a Dreamliner, a Boeing 787-8, and a Gulfstream private jet, which together are worth around $400 million (just over €370 million). Abramovich denies that the aircraft belong to him.
- June 20, 2022: The Munich I Public Prosecutor’s Office has seized three apartments belonging to two Russian citizens. This is the first case of its kind in Germany.
- June 22, 2022: Former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky on Putin’s attitude toward the West: “He is trying to finish off his victim.”
- June 22, 2022: Russian apartments in Germany seized for the first time: This is most likely the ominous owner.
- June 27, 2022: Special case “Axioma”: For the first time, a Russian oligarch’s yacht is being auctioned off.
- June 28, 2022: Oleg Deripaska publicly warns of the complete destruction of Ukraine. At the same time, he praised Russia for its economic resilience. Despite all the tensions of war, the situation in the country is calm and there are no signs of a change in power, according to the oligarch.
- July 1, 2022: The US seizes the company of Russian gold giant Suleiman Kerimov.
- July 6, 2022: Gas oligarch Yuri Voronov found dead in the pool of his villa.
- July 10, 2022: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has come under fire for an unaccompanied meeting with oligarch and former KGB employee Alexander Lebedev during his time as foreign secretary. The opposition called on the government to investigate. Johnson recently acknowledged the meeting for the first time in April 2018, saying that no government officials were present.
- July 18, 2022: Fundamental rights violated? Four oligarchs file brazen lawsuit against the EU over sanctions
- August 4, 2022: Italian police seize assets of Putin’s palace architect
- September 21, 2022: Police search 24 properties belonging to Putin’s buddy Usmanov
- October 3, 2022: Former Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky sees Vladimir Putin as being cornered. The Russian president’s life could even depend on the outcome of the war in Ukraine: “If Putin loses, he also loses his life.”
- October 22, 2022: Russian oligarch’s mega-yacht subsidized with German taxpayer money
- November 8, 2022: Investigation against Alisher Usmanov: The Frankfurt Public Prosecutor’s Office has searched the premises of Swiss bank UBS. According to Der Spiegel, the raid affected areas of the private client business at the headquarters in Frankfurt and the branch in Munich.
- March 2, 2023: War makes Russian billionaires poorer—but three are getting even richer
