Rich Russians

There are about 100 friends of Putin whom he helped get rich quick when the Soviet government fell in 1992. Their fortunes grew and today are worth about $800 billion dollars which is about the worth of the rest of the 144 million Russians. It's reported that many of these billionaires are holding money for Putin. They spend money lavishly. An example is Roman Abramovich, a former Russian provincial governor and Putin ally who became a steel and metals magnate. Now a dual Israeli citizen with a net worth estimated at more than $13 billion. He used his fortune to buy the British soccer club Chelsea and homes in London and New York. Many of the others are well known and could easily be charged with stealing money from the Russian people.