Vladimir Potanin, founder of the Russian holding company Interros and president of Norilsk Nickel, is ranked No. 79 on the Forbes 2026 World’s Billionaires list, tied with Susanne Klatten, with a net worth of $29.7 billion. He is under sanctions from several countries.
Vladimir Olegovich Potanin was born on January 3, 1961, in Moscow, into the family of a Soviet trade representative in New Zealand. He lived for several years in Turkey with his parents, and went to Moscow School No. 58, graduating with a gold medal. He graduated in 1983 from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) and went to work for a foreign trade organisation of the Ministry of Foreign Trade.
Net Worth and Rank
- Forbes 2026 list: No. 79 (tied with Susanne Klatten), with $29.7 billion; Wikipedia says Forbes ranked him second among Russians in 2026
- Bloomberg: on August 24, 2026, its index put his wealth at $23.0 billion, 113th in the world and third in Russia
- Earlier peaks: Forbes twice ranked him Russia’s richest person, in 2015 and 2020
Interros and Norilsk Nickel
- 1990: during perestroika he left the state foreign-trade system and created Interros, which began in foreign economic consulting
- 1995: he was instrumental in creating the “loans for shares” auctions, which sold off Russian state assets at below-market prices and are regarded as the founding moment of Russia’s oligarchy
- Today: Interros holds stakes in Norilsk Nickel, Rosa Khutor, Rosbank, Yandex and TCS Group Holding; he is president of Norilsk Nickel
Culture and Philanthropy
He is chairman of the board of trustees of the State Hermitage Museum and the founder of the Vladimir Potanin Charitable Foundation. In 2002 he bought Kazimir Malevich’s Black Square for $1 million and donated it to the Hermitage.
Sanctions
Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have imposed sanctions on Potanin, according to Wikipedia.
Why It Matters
Norilsk Nickel is among the world’s largest producers of nickel and palladium, and Potanin’s fortune is tied to its value and to Russia’s economic circumstances.
Net worth figures change daily with share prices. Rankings here follow the Forbes 2026 World’s Billionaires list, with wealth measured on March 1, 2026.
Image: Vladimir Potanin in his office, February 2023. Photo: AlexZolenko / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
