Natural resources run through the top of this list. Steel and other metals, oil, gas, gold, fertilisers and coal account for many of the largest fortunes. Banking, telecoms, retail and property are also among the sources of wealth.
The captured Forbes dataset records 149 billionaires with Russian citizenship. This list takes the hundred largest, so its lower positions reach fortunes estimated at less than $1.5bn. Each amount is Forbes’ estimate on 12 September 2026, shown in US dollars.
Who is the richest person in Russia?
Alexey Mordashov and family, with an estimated net worth of US$36.9bn, according to Forbes’ real-time list as captured on 12 September 2026.
Sanctions make valuation harder
Since 2022 many governments have imposed sanctions on Russian companies and individuals, including some people in this list. Frozen assets, restricted trading and limited disclosure make it harder to value a stake. Forbes still publishes estimates, but they carry more uncertainty than a holding in a freely traded company.
How the money is held
Large Russian fortunes are often held through chains of holding companies, some of them registered abroad. A change of ownership can be a transfer to relatives or a trust rather than a sale. The “& family” label marks cases where Forbes estimates a fortune together with relatives, and we keep that wording.
One country per person
This list follows Forbes’ citizenship field. Some people hold more than one passport or live outside Russia, and Forbes assigns each person to one country. The label is the source’s classification; it does not describe where a person lives or where their businesses operate.
What this snapshot shows
Alexey Mordashov & family leads this captured list at approximately US$36.91bn. The entry at number 100, Alexander Linnik, is approximately US$1.44bn. The first ten account for 42.4% of the sum of the hundred reported values. That share is calculated within this list; it is not a share of all wealth in Russia.
The first ten
Alexey Mordashov & family
Source of wealth: Steel, investments ·
Alexey Mordashov and family are worth about US$36.9bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Alexey Mordashov joined the Cherepovets steel plant, where his parents had worked, and became its finance director in 1992. Through two investment funds he bought up workers’ shares and built a major stake. He became chief executive in 1996 and built the steel and mining group Severstal.
Forbes says he owns 77% of Severstal, which he ran until 2015. The EU imposed sanctions on him in February 2022, and in June the United States targeted him and Severstal. After being sanctioned, he transferred assets including shares in TUI, the travel group, Forbes reports.
Vladimir Potanin
Source of wealth: Metals ·
Vladimir Potanin’s net worth is about US$29.7bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Vladimir Potanin worked in Soviet foreign trade before founding Interros in 1990. He moved into banking with Oneximbank and was instrumental in creating the loans-for-shares auctions of 1995. During that year’s privatisations he acquired a stake in the mining company Norilsk Nickel.
He is president of Norilsk Nickel, and Forbes says he owns just over a third of it. Interros also holds other assets, including Rosbank, bought from Société Générale in 2022. The UK imposed sanctions on him in June 2022, and the US followed that December.
Vagit Alekperov
Source of wealth: Oil ·
Vagit Alekperov’s net worth is about US$29.5bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Vagit Alekperov worked on Caspian Sea oil rigs and in Western Siberia’s oilfields. In 1990 he became a Soviet deputy minister for the oil and gas industry. In 1991 he brought three state-run oil fields together to set up Lukoil, becoming its president in 1993.
Forbes says he owns about 30% of Lukoil, Russia’s largest independent oil company. He stepped down as president in April 2022, days after the UK imposed sanctions on him. In October 2025 the US Treasury imposed sanctions on Lukoil itself.
Leonid Mikhelson & family
Source of wealth: Gas, chemicals ·
Leonid Mikhelson and family are worth about US$28.3bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Leonid Mikhelson began his career as a pipeline construction engineer in Siberia. He ran one of the first construction companies privatised after the Soviet collapse, then led its holding company. That business became Novatek, the natural gas producer he founded and chairs.
He is a major shareholder in Novatek and, according to Forbes, owns just over 30% of the petrochemical group Sibur. Gennady Timchenko is his partner in both. He also paid for the GES-2 arts centre in Moscow. The UK imposed sanctions on him in 2022.
Suleiman Kerimov & family
Source of wealth: Gold ·
Suleiman Kerimov and family are worth about US$25.7bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Suleiman Kerimov, a trained economist from Dagestan, made money investing in Russian assets, including Gazprom and Sberbank shares. He lost billions on bank stocks in the 2008 crisis. He recovered by buying 37% of Polyus, Russia’s biggest gold producer, from Vladimir Potanin.
In 2015 he passed Polyus shares to his son Said, and by early 2022 the family held 76%. The US imposed sanctions on Kerimov in 2018, and the EU and UK did so in March 2022. Said was sanctioned that April and transferred the stake, Forbes reports.
Vladimir Lisin
Source of wealth: Steel, transport ·
Vladimir Lisin’s net worth is about US$25.5bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Vladimir Lisin started work as an electrical fitter in a Siberian coal mine and rose through Soviet steel plants. In the 1990s he became a partner in the Trans World Group, a metals trading business. He became a shareholder of Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) and has chaired it since 1998.
He remains NLMK’s majority shareholder, so his wealth is closely tied to steel. He also has transport interests, including the port company Port One, Forbes notes. In 2023 he sold the large railway operator Freight One.
Gennady Timchenko
Source of wealth: Oil, gas ·
Gennady Timchenko’s net worth is about US$24.2bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Gennady Timchenko trained as an electrical engineer and worked in Soviet foreign trade before moving into oil exports. In 1997 he co-founded the commodity trader Gunvor, which exported large volumes of Russian oil. He sold his stake in March 2014, a day before the US imposed sanctions on him.
His investment firm, Volga Group, holds stakes in businesses including the gas producer Novatek and the petrochemical group Sibur. The UK and the EU imposed sanctions on him in February 2022. He chairs the board of the Kontinental Hockey League.
Andrey Melnichenko & family
Source of wealth: Fertilizers, coal ·
Andrey Melnichenko and family are worth about US$20.4bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Andrey Melnichenko opened a currency exchange booth as a student. In 1993, at the age of 21, he co-founded MDM Bank. He went on to found two industrial groups: the fertiliser producer EuroChem and the coal and energy company SUEK.
Forbes says these companies employ more than 100,000 people. He left their boards in March 2022, when the EU imposed sanctions on him, and he has disputed the sanctions. That year his wife, Alexandra, became the beneficiary of the trust holding the stakes, Forbes reports.
Mikhail Fridman
Source of wealth: Oil, banking, telecom ·
Mikhail Fridman’s net worth is about US$16.6bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Mikhail Fridman, born in Lviv, studied metallurgy in Moscow. In 1989 he and university friends started the trading company Alfa-Eco, and in 1991 he co-founded Alfa-Bank. In 2003 the partners formed the oil venture TNK-BP with BP, and in 2013 they sold their stakes for $14 billion.
Fridman then co-founded the investment company LetterOne. He left its board after the EU sanctioned him in February 2022, and the UK followed in March. He challenged the EU listings, and an EU court annulled the early ones in 2024. The EU lifted its sanctions in September 2026.
Alisher Usmanov
Source of wealth: Steel, telecom, investments ·
Alisher Usmanov’s net worth is about US$14bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Alisher Usmanov, born in Uzbekistan, made his first fortune in the late Soviet era by producing plastic bags. After the Soviet Union collapsed he invested in metals and mining. From 2000 to 2014 he also headed Gazprom Investholding, a Gazprom subsidiary.
His largest holding is in Metalloinvest, an iron ore and steel producer. He was an early investor in Facebook and has held stakes in the mobile operator MegaFon and the publisher Kommersant. The EU, the US and the UK imposed sanctions on him in 2022. The EU lifted its sanctions in September 2026.
The ranking continues: 11–100
Forbes · ranking and methodology
- Estimated net worth: US$11,953,658,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$10,989,358,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$10,772,905,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$10,715,385,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$10,330,045,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$9,733,566,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$9,345,624,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$9,307,796,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$9,171,646,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$8,368,764,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$8,123,946,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$7,919,148,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$7,855,331,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$7,705,274,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$7,133,705,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$6,828,285,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$6,706,969,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$5,830,664,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$5,358,963,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$5,290,533,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$5,209,926,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$5,185,594,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$5,103,551,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$5,103,551,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$4,904,327,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$4,853,786,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$4,851,485,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$4,830,104,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$4,717,893,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$4,079,058,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,640,608,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,616,415,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,124,563,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,017,132,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,981,549,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,969,367,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,825,745,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,550,883,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,529,000,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,517,793,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,486,467,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,455,415,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,439,829,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,424,212,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,384,423,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,307,829,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,287,057,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,254,907,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,230,230,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,170,257,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,153,122,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,116,726,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,066,805,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,036,044,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,029,651,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,027,579,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,933,345,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,931,651,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,912,239,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,870,676,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,843,295,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,831,000,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,816,124,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,802,676,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,800,548,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,798,123,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,786,800,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,759,715,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,756,209,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,751,331,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,728,840,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,718,213,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,702,262,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,700,000,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,687,000,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,653,614,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,647,294,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,622,005,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,614,696,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,591,393,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,579,410,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,560,772,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,531,609,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,531,583,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,526,229,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,510,484,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,504,405,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,460,414,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,457,347,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$1,438,057,000.00
There is always a story.
Russia’s largest fortunes remain closely tied to natural resources and heavy industry. The figures for 12 September 2026 are the source’s estimates in a market where trading, disclosure and ownership are harder to observe than they once were.