What Russian billionaires spend their money on has once more jolted the imperturbable British. They can’t wait to meet Oleg Derispaska - the aluminum king trying to buy, lock and stock, the loss-making Jaguar company. Russian oligarchs these days have taken to treating themselves to something more than just hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and securities. They’ve definitely become more sophisticated. A passion for collecting football clubs, antiques and pop-stars seems to be catching on.

A Passion for Collecting

The sales held twice a year by Sotheby’s and Christie’s, the world’s largest auction-houses, aren’t called ‘the Russian sales” for nothing. Our fat cats are considered the best buyers of all - they simply hoover up lots worth a million pounds or more. Viktor Vekselberg, the CEO of Renova, when he bought his Fabergé eggs, made a symbolic statement that he had bought them for the Motherland, thus shielding himself from possible attacks from the Prosecutor's office. Elena Baturina is said to collect Russian porcelain, the prices for which, especially for vases from the imperial factory, have gone up by 1000-1500% in the past five years - an 18th-century dish now costs no less than $50,000. Vladimir Lisin, owner of the Novolipetsky metals company, has the best collection in the country of casts from the Kaslinsky factory of the 19th and 20th centuries. Kalmykian President Kirsan Ilumzhinov collects the paintings of Ilya Glazunov. Senator Umar Dzhabrailov is interested in modern conceptual artists, and the president of Alfa Bank collects Russian paintings of the Silver Age.

A Passion for Music

Oligarchs also have their hearts set on music. Oleg Deripaska is recently said to have paid Russian singer Zemphira $50,000 in an élite restaurant just as a tip. It’s boggles the mind to think how much he must have given her for the whole show.
No-one quite knows who hired Robby Williams for a private New Year’s Day concert, but the upshot is that the British superstar’s fee has gone up dramatically to $2 million. In May, Vladimir Lisin had a 50th-birthday party, and one of the guests said that the British rock star Sting got a million dollars for a one-hour performance. That’s apart from the tip. One of the guests asked the singer to do ‘Shape Of My Heart’ as an encore. He did - and got another $200,000 for it. ‘You should’ve seen his face’, says the guest.

A Passion for Sport

Mikhail Prokhorov, Alexander Khloponin, Dmitryi Zelenin and Roman Abramovich are fond of jazzy Alpine resorts like Courchevel. In Sussex Abramovich has built a go-cart track and stadium with copies of Formula-1 race-cars. His garages around the world house, among other cars, a Porsche Carerra GT, a souped-up Aston Martin DB7 and a unique Bentley Brookland that weighs two-and-a-half tonnes. He also heads the list of Russian yachtsmen. Three of the world’s top-twenty yachts are owned by the oligarch - though he doesn’t sail them all at once. Anatoly Chubais and Vladimir Potanin are allowed to go out in them on their own.

A Passion for Jets

In 2005, Russian billionaires bought between 70 and 150 private jets. For our Russian oligarchs, unlike European money-bags, comfort comes first - their main cabins look like mini-restaurants with elements of a professionally-equipped office thrown in. Berezovsky and Vekselberg use the Canadian Bombardier Challenger 604 ($24 million) and its updated version, the Challenger 605 ($27 million). A brand-new Challenger 850 was also recently sold to a Russian. Abramovich flies all over the world on his exclusive Boeing 767 ($100 million) equipped with an anti-missile system, a Jacuzzi, a cinema and other plutocratic toys. Our nouveau-riches, in other words, have something to use to fly away from Russia, should their caprices get the cold shoulder from their Motherland…

(Oleg Roldulgin, Sobesednik, 16.08.2006)