Abramovich falls in rich list

CHELSEA football club owner Roman Abramovich is no longer one of Russia’s three richest men after being outranked by oligarchs who benefited from recovering oil and commodity prices.

The 2011 rich list compiled by Moscow’s Finans magazine put Abramovich’s wealth at $17.1 billion (€12.6bn), up only $100 million (€74m) in a strong year that saw some of Russia’s other 114 billionaires make dramatic gains.

Vladimir Lisin, the publicity-shy owner of the Novolipetsk Steel giant, retained his position as Russia’s wealthiest man, seeing his fortune soar to $28.3bn from $18.8bn in 2010.

He was followed by Onexim investment fund owner Mikhail Prokhorov at $22.7bn and Alisher Usmanov, the part-owner of Arsenal football club, whose wealth was estimated by Finans at $19.9bn.

Abramovich slipped to fifth behind Oleg Deripaska, the majority shareholder in steel maker UC Rusal, whose empire was worth $19bn.