Owner of Murmansk Seaport is now Russia's richest

According to Forbes, Melnichenko’s fortune is now estimated to $25,2 billion, twice as much as in 2022. Fertilizers are the main reason for the wealth increase. Melnichenko’s company Eurochem boosted profits thanks to high prices in international markets. One of Eurochem’s plants is located in Kovdor, the mining town in the Kola Peninsula.

Several of the key assets of Andrei Melnichenko are located in the Russian far north. That includes the Murmansk Seaport that is owned by SUEK, Melnichenko’s coal company.

SUEK in 2012 acquired its first major stake in the seaport and by early 2018 owned almost 85 percent of the shares. Shortly later he is believed to have acquired the last remaining shares. The businessman uses the port to ship coal from the company’s rich coal deposits in the far east Russian Kusbass region and to exports of fertilizers.

Melnichenko is by the European Union considered to be one of the most influential businesspeople in Putin’s circle.

“On 24 February 2022, in the aftermath of the initial stages of Russian aggression against Ukraine, Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko, along with other 36 businesspeople, met with President Vladimir Putin and other members of the Russian government to discuss the impact of the course of action in the wake of Western sanctions,” the EU Council writes in its March 9 decision to sanction the oligarch.

However, despite the sanctions, Melnichenko’s EuroChem has continued to trade with international partners, including from the EU.

In an interview with Forbes, Melnichenko says that the ownership stakes in EuroChem and SUEK were reduced to zero following his inclusion in the EU sanctions.

Nevertheless, his fortune in 2022 and early 2023 continued to a grow to a record high.

Melnichenko is also known as the owner of the world’s biggest sailing yacht, the eight decks large “A”.

Also the two other main fertilizer tycoons of the Kola Peninsula boosted their fortunes sin 2022. Vyacheslav Kantor, owner of Acron, is the country’s 9th richest, up from number 27 last year. Andrei Guriev, owner of Phosagro, is the 11th richest, up from number 24.

Also Russia’s second richest has made his fortune in the North. Vladimir Potanin owns 37 percent of Nornickel, the company that produces nickel in Norilsk and the Kola Peninsula, and today has a fortune of $23,7 billion.

Leonid Mikhelson, the owner of 24,6% of natural gas company Novatek, is Russia’s 4th richest. His fortune is estimated to $21,6 billion. Mikhelson has over the past years made Russia a significant producer of LNG, thanks to the far northern Yamal LNG project.

According to Forbes, the joint fortune of Russia’s 20th richest people has over the last year increased significantly from $353 billions to $505 billions. In 2022, many of the oligarchs’ fortunes shrunk following Russia’s attack on Ukraine.