Despite ex-Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov's fall from grace in 2010, his wife Yelena Baturina remains Russia's richest woman for the third year in a row, Forbes Russia said Thursday.
The magazine estimated her worth in a new list of Russia's wealthiest women at $1 billion — $100 million less than in 2013 and $1.9 billion less than in 2010.
Baturina, 51, sold her company Inteco and moved abroad with Luzhkov after he was sacked in what experts said was a lost turf war against then-President Dmitry Medvedev.
The runner-up this year was Olga Belyavtseva, 44, who made her $450-million fortune in mineral water and baby food.
Tatyana Bakalchuk, 38, head of online clothing retailer Wildberries, ranked third with $380 million.
The top 10 also included Muslima Latypova of Tatarstan-based supermarket chain Bakhetle (5th place, $315 million), Natalya Kasperskaya, co-founder of antivirus software maker Kaspersky Lab (8th place, $230 million), and Larisa Belobrova, ex-owner of Primorye bank, founded by her husband Sergei Darkin, former governor of the eponymous region (9th place, $220 million).
Most entries on the Forbes list are self-made businesswomen, but the situation may soon change drastically, given the number of Russia's male tycoons currently getting divorced.
A case in point is Yelena Rybolovleva, listed by Forbes at 10th place. A Geneva court in May ruled that Rybolovleva was entitled to $5.1 billion of the $8.8-billion fortune of her ex-husband Dmitry, a retired potash king, but legal complications make it unlikely she will get a major cut of his assets, Forbes said.
Other divorces in progress include those of Kremlin-affiliated businessman Arkady Rotenberg (worth $3.6 billion, according to Forbes) and Interros' owner Vladimir Potanin ($12.6 billion).
Tycoon Roman Abramovich ($9.5 billion) reportedly paid his wife Irina $300 million upon their divorce in 2007.
But things may not work out quite so well for the ex-wives of other billionaires: Potanin's wife Natalya, for example, claimed in an interview with GQ Russia published Wednesday that he had refused her "an insignificant sum" that she requested when the tycoon filed for divorce after 30 years of marriage.
Potanin, who his ex-wife says has a new girlfriend, had not commented on the allegations as of Thursday.
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