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Millionaires of Russia Unite!

This weekend saw the opening of the Millionaire Fair on the outskirts of Moscow – a four-day long show catering to the excessive lifestyles of Russia’s wealthy. Although a fifth of Russia’s 142 million people live below the poverty line, surges in oil and metal prices in the 1990s brought huge wealth to an elite ...

By Diyana Ishak

October 30, 2006, 6:08 PM

This weekend saw the opening of the Millionaire Fair on the outskirts of Moscow – a four-day long show catering to the excessive lifestyles of Russia's wealthy. Although a fifth of Russia's 142 million people live below the poverty line, surges in oil and metal prices in the 1990s brought huge wealth to an elite tier of "New Russians." A place where private wealth was once banned under communism, the country now has 44 billionaires and 88,000 millionaires, according to Forbes. That's more billionaires than London and second only to New York. The show's founder, Yves Gijrath, told the Moscow Times that there is a simple quality differentiating Russian millionaires from their foreign peers:

This weekend saw the opening of the Millionaire Fair on the outskirts of Moscow – a four-day long show catering to the excessive lifestyles of Russia’s wealthy. Although a fifth of Russia’s 142 million people live below the poverty line, surges in oil and metal prices in the 1990s brought huge wealth to an elite tier of “New Russians.” A place where private wealth was once banned under communism, the country now has 44 billionaires and 88,000 millionaires, according to Forbes. That’s more billionaires than London and second only to New York. The show’s founder, Yves Gijrath, told the Moscow Times that there is a simple quality differentiating Russian millionaires from their foreign peers:

[Russians] spend more.”

This year’s fair will give them the opportunity to do just that – with everything from cars and diamonds to helicopters and islands on offer. Last year’s fair brought in over $600 million, and organizers are hoping this year will be even bigger.