Russian currency Rouble, plunges to a new low!

Feb 28, 2022 thejournalbiz

Ruble, the Russian currency record today a new low, as Russia’s ‘Oligarch’s wealth continues to shrinks rapidly, the latest SWIFT and other sanction imposed on Russia, that led President Putin to summon main nation’s business leaders to a meeting at the Kremlin.

according to state-owned news agency TASS.

At the meeting were at least 13 billionaires, who altogether lost over 68billion within a week, and they are;

Vagit Alekperov, Pyotr Aven, Andrei Bokarev, Andrei Guriev, Mikhail Gutseriev, Suleiman Kerimov, Andrey Melnichenko, Leonid Mikhelson, Alexey Mordashov, Vadim Moshkovich, Vladimir Potanin, Dmitry Pumpyansky and Vladimir Yevtushenkov

“What is happening is a necessary measure,” he reportedly told them. “We were simply left with no chance to do otherwise.”

None of the billionaires have apparently commented.

Bloomberg calculates Russia’s billionaires roughly lost over $126 billion since the start of the Kremlin’s military invasion of Ukraine.

*Ruble vs USD/Euro index chart, Statista.inc

Numbers are constantly fluctuating, as the Russian rubla is constantly falling, due to deteriorated inflation.

His attack on Ukraine has not only wreaked havoc on Ukraine, it has destabilized markets around the world and hit the fortunes of his closest allies.

Tens of billions of dollars have been wiped from the fortunes of Russia’s billionaire elite as the country’s stock market and the ruble plunged after President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russia’s roughly have lost more than $126 billion since February 16, Forbes calculates.

Out of which, $71 billion was wiped out only on Thursday, after Russia’s index closed down 33% as rubla plunged to a record low against the dollar.

The threat of sanctions extending beyond the small circle of billionaire oligarchs and businesses already targeted by the U.S, UK, and Eu will bite further into the fortunes of Russia’s richest.

Altogether, as Bloomberg estimates main Russian billionaires lost $15 billion on Thursday alone.

Lukoil’s Vagit Alekperov was the biggest billionaire loser from the Moscow Stock Exchange sell off sparked by President Putin’s order to invade Ukraine.

Alekperov, a former Soviet oil minister who set up Lukoil, Russia’s largest independent oil producer, was the biggest loser. He saw $4.2 billion, or around 17.7% of his fortune, disappear as Russian oil and gas stocks plunged.

Lukoil shares, which are listed in London and Moscow, are down more than 33% since the start of the military build up to the invasion.

Forbes finds that the Billionaire Gennady Timchenko, who was targeted this week by British sanctions, was also among those whose fortunes took the biggest hits.

Timchenko, who owns stakes gas company Novatek and petrochemicals producer Sibur, saw around $4.4 billion wiped from his fortune.

Timchenko, was named as a part of Putin’s “inner circle” in sanctions imposed by the U.S. Treasury after Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in March 2014.

The British government also sanctioned three other super wealthy Russians, including Putin’s former son-in-law Kirill Shamalov.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson looks set to go further and seize the assets of the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

The billionaire owner of Premier League soccer team Chelsea FC, recently announced the handover of “stewardship” of Chelsea Football Club over to trustees of the club’s charitable foundation