Steel magnate Vladimir Lisin is Russia's new richest man after a year which saw all the top oligarchs in the country increase their fortunes despite the financial crisis, a report said today.
Lisin, the owner of leading steel producer Novolipetsk Steel, saw his fortune rise to $18.8 billion from $7.7 billion in 2009, according to the 2010 rich list of the Russian magazine Finans.
The increase of his wealth on the back of a strong year for the company's share price knocked off last year's leader -- the billionaire owner of the Onexim investment fund Mikhail Prokhorov -- from his perch.
Prokhorov's fortune amounted to $17.85 billion, compared with $14.1 billion last year, putting him in second place, Finans said.
Third place was occupied by the owner of Chelsea football club, Roman Abramovich, who boasted a fortune of $17 billion compared with $13.9 billion last year.
Oleg Deripaska, majority shareholder in steel maker UC Rusal and the oligarch who took the hardest hit from the crisis, also saw a recovery in his fortune to $13.8 billion.
This put Deripaska, who in 2008 was Russia's richest man with a colossal fortune of $40 billion according to Finans, in sixth place in 2010, the magazine said.