WHO? The richest Russian - and a man to Putin's liking
Roman Abramovich has avoided the fate of some other Russian oligarchs
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By Susanna Niinivaara in Moscow
Roman Abramovich, who celebrated his 40th birthday last October, is the richest man in Russia. Forbes Magazine recently estimated his net worth at USD 18.2 billion. It is probably useful to add at this point that the often Byzantine ownership relationships of the companies in which such tycoons are involved mean that a precise figure is hard to come by.
In any event, Abramovich is one of those oligarchs who have managed actually to increase their considerable wealth under the rule of the current Russian President, Vladimir Putin.
Such a feat is not by any means a given. Where another oligarch who made his fortune in oil, Mikhail Khodorkovsky [of Yukos Oil], lost his business and is now serving prison time in Siberia for tax evasion and fraud, Abramovich sold off his own oil company Sibneft to the state energy utility Gazprom at the right moment and for more than USD 10 billion.
In addition to his oil interests, Abramovich has made a lot of money from aluminium. His private investment company Millhouse Capital divested its 25% stake in the aluminium giant Rusal in 2003 for close on USD 2 billion.
And whereas the exiled oligarch (he sought asylum in London) Boris Berezovsky has annoyed the Kremlin by talking about his plans for overthrowing the regime by force, Abramovich accepted Vladimir Putin's personal backing and nomination to stay on as Governor of Chukotka in 2005.
Earlier he had run the remote and impoverished area in the Russian Far East from 2000, when he was formally elected to the position.
At the time in October 2005, Putin praised Abramovich for his high standards of professional expertise and competence.
To be honest, for a provincial governor of an area that borders the Bering Straits and is the farthest-flung north-eastern corner of Russia, Abramovich spends a lot of his time in London.
He bought a controlling interest in the English Premiership football club Chelsea FC in the summer of 2003. His investment has reaped huge rewards on the pitch - despite failure to secure the European Champions League crown - but has yet to turn a profit financially. His involvement with the London club immediately led to their being dubbed "Chelski" by rival supporters.
Roman's name was recently in the tabloids for another reason, following the breakdown of his second marriage, to Irina Abramovich (née Malandina).
The divorce settlement was initially expected to take a nasty bite out of Abramovich's personal fortune. His ex-wife allegedly wanted to end their 15-year marriage (they have five children together) on the grounds of her husband's infidelity, and pictures surfaced of him on the arm of a 23-year-old Russian model.
There were rumours of an impending multi-billion dollar alimony settlement, but while no precise figures of what Irina Abramovich collected have been divulged, the case was heard in Russia in March, and some sources have suggested a settlement of around EUR 225 million was reached.
Roman Abramovich has already seen the world, and now he has said he wants to orbit the Moon. Some press reports have said he is willing to put up USD 300 million (around EUR 220 million) for the privilege of being the world's first lunar space tourist.
"A goodly sum of money; we like it. And if Mr. Abramovich agrees to pay, we'll send him" commented Anatoli Perminov, head of the Russian Space Agency Roskosmos, according to the Itar Tass a couple of weeks ago.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 24.4.2007
More on this subject:
 Russian oligarch plans sales of reindeer meat to Lapland
Links:
Roman Abramovich (Wikipedia)
Business Oligarchs (Wikipedia)
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug (Wikipedia)
SUSANNA NIINIVAARA / Helsingin Sanomat
susanna.niinivaara@hs.fi
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