Российские миллиардеры в условиях санкционного кризиса: пути адаптации и стратегии поведения

Вестник Института социологии. 2025. Т. 16. № 4. С. 269–294.

Shvetsova E.

This article examines the adaptive strategies employed by the Russian dollar billionaires — in response to the sanctions crisis. Drawing on an original empirical dataset, the study analyzes the group’s composition and asset management practices from February 2022 through January 2025. The study reveals that sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia and other countries have significantly influenced both the internal structure and behavioral strategies of Russian billionaires. Despite external institutional shocks, the group demonstrated notable resilience and adaptability: reproduction rates in annual rankings ranged from 70% during the peak volatility of 2022–2023 to 91% as adaptation progressed through 2023–2024. Contrary to the intended effects of economic restrictions, the number of Russian billionaires not only remained stable but reached record levels; by 2025, 146 individuals were listed in the Russian Forbes ranking, with their aggregate wealth surpassing pre-crisis levels. The analysis identifies a wide range of strategic responses, including investment in domestic assets, complex restructuring of ownership networks, the acquisition and divestment of foreign assets, property repatriation, and, in some cases, renunciation of Russian citizenship. These strategies varied depending on the intensity of sanction pressure and the size of individual capital holdings. Notably, members of the Forbes Top 20 demonstrated the greatest strategic dynamism, particularly through operations in foreign jurisdictions, whereas other billionaires, often subject to less direct sanctioning, prioritized consolidation of their domestic positions. This study contributes to the broader understanding of the resilience of economic elites under conditions of institutional disruption and offers an empirically grounded typology of adaptation strategies among Russian billionaires, a group critical to contemporary patterns of economic stratification.

Keywords: поведенческие стратегии, behavior strategies, антироссийские санкции, сверхбогатство, санкционный кризис, sanctions crisis, Forbes lists, Anti-Russian sanctions, super-rich, список Forbes, russian billionaires, российские миллиардеры

Publication based on the results of: Recommendations on family policy and active ageing policy measures taking into account the dynamics of quality of life indicators (2025)