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Updated 28 December 2025 - Russia's ultra-wealthy have seen their numbers swell to unprecedented levels during the war in Ukraine, even as their political influence wanes under President Vladimir Putin's tight control.
Record billionaire count amid war economy
Russia now boasts 140 billionaires, the highest figure ever recorded by Forbes, with their combined wealth nearing pre-war peaks. The surge follows two years of robust economic growth, fueled by lavish military spending that has benefited even those not directly supplying the defense sector.
In 2024, over half of Russia's billionaires were linked to the war effort, either through military contracts or Kremlin-aligned business ventures, according to Forbes's Giacomo Tognini. "Anyone running a business in Russia today needs a relationship with the government," he told the BBC. Their collective net worth stands at $580 billion, just $3 billion below the 2021 record.
From oligarchs to silent backers
Putin's 25-year rule has systematically stripped Russia's elite of their once-formidable political clout. The oligarchs who emerged in the 1990s-amassing wealth through privatized state assets-initially wielded significant influence, even shaping presidential transitions. Boris Berezovsky, a kingmaker of the era, later lamented his role in Putin's rise, calling him a "greedy tyrant" in a 2012 letter. Berezovsky was found dead in the UK a year later under disputed circumstances.
Today, dissent is met with swift retribution. Former banking tycoon Oleg Tinkov lost $9 billion after criticizing the war in Ukraine on Instagram. Within days, Kremlin-linked entities forced him to sell his Tinkoff Bank-Russia's second-largest-for just 3% of its value. "It was like a hostage situation," Tinkov told the New York Times. He fled Russia shortly after.
Sanctions backfire, entrenching loyalty
The West's sanctions aimed to cripple Putin's war chest by targeting oligarchs' assets, but analysts argue they had the opposite effect. "The West ensured billionaires rallied around the flag," said Alexander Kolyandr of the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). Frozen accounts and seized properties left them with no exit strategy, forcing them to align with the Kremlin.
The exodus of foreign firms post-invasion created opportunities for loyalists to acquire lucrative assets at steep discounts. In 2024 alone, 11 new billionaires emerged this way, per Forbes. Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center's Alexandra Prokopenko notes these businesspeople now depend on continued East-West tensions, fearing the return of former owners.
Kremlin's carrot-and-stick playbook
Putin's strategy hinges on rewarding compliance while crushing opposition. The 2003 arrest of oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky-once Russia's richest man-served as a warning after he funded pro-democracy groups. Khodorkovsky spent a decade in prison.
On the eve of the Ukraine invasion in February 2022, Putin summoned 37 billionaires to the Kremlin. A reporter present described them as "pale and sleep-deprived," aware their fortunes were at risk. Putin's message was clear: "I hope we'll work together just as well." Since then, public dissent has vanished.
War economy's silver lining
Russia's GDP grew over 4% annually in 2023 and 2024, driven by defense spending that buoyed industries beyond arms manufacturing. While 34 billionaires disappeared in the war's first year-losing $263 billion collectively-the rebound has been dramatic. Sanctions, intended to isolate Russia, instead consolidated the elite's dependence on the state.
"The West gave Putin exactly what he wanted: a unified, dependent elite,"
Kolyandr, CEPA
No room for defiance
The few oligarchs who opposed the war paid dearly. Those who remain have either embraced the system or stayed silent. With no viable path to defect, Russia's billionaires have become pillars of Putin's war economy-richer than ever, but politically neutered.
