Drea Knufken
It’s hard to rate Russian oligarchs on a global power scale, since they tend to work together and share ownership stakes. That said, Oleg Deripaska is still one of the biggest cheeses in the fondue pot.
Through his Basic Element conglomerate, Vladimir Potanin’s main rival owns significant companies in five global industries: manufacturing, energy, aviation, financial services, and construction. Those companies include Rusal, the world’s biggest aluminum supplier; the GAZ group of Russian automobile plants, whose latest joint venture is in heavy trucks with China, and major Russian airplane manufacturer Aviacor.
After the 2008 economic crash pummeled Russia’s former richest man with debt, Deripaska personally negotiated with the Russian government and banks to have his credit restructured, writes Forbes. His marriage to a Boris Yeltsin senior official’s daughter and the fact that Deripaska sees Vladimir Putin as “more like a manager” surely didn’t hurt during those talks.
