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Putin's Judo Partners Make Forbes' Rich List

Forbes on Friday published the Russian part of the magazine's 2010 global billionaires list, which, for the first time, saw the entry of Boris and Arkady Rotenberg, friends of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

The number of dollar billionaires on this year's list nearly doubled from last year's, rising to 62 people from 32. Capping the list is Vladimir Lisin, head of Novolipetsk Steel, with a net worth of $15.8 billion, giving him 32nd place in the worldwide ranking.

Lisin is followed by Onexim owner Mikhail Prokhorov ($13.4 billion), Alfa Group co-owner Mikhail Fridman ($12.7 billion), Roman Abramovich ($11.2 billion) and Basic Element owner Oleg Deripaska ($10.7 billion).

The Rotenberg brothers, who used to practice judo with Putin, entered the list for the first time, taking the 99th and 100th places, with a net worth of $700 million each. The Rotenbergs' best-known asset is SMP Bank: Each brother owns 36.84 percent of the bank, which has revenues of at least $3 billion per year, according to Forbes' information.

The only woman on the list is Inteko president Yelena Baturina, whose net worth reached $2.8 billion from $900 billion the year earlier.

Ten Russian businessmen have increased their wealth by at least $5 billion, and Mechel shareholder Igor Zyuzin holds the record for the biggest yearly increase, with his wealth jumping 5.4 times to $6.4 billion.

Exiled oligarch Boris Berezovsky didn't make it into the top 100 for the first time since 2004: The minimum level of wealth in this year's list was $700 million.

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