Russia's 110 richest people own a third of country's wealth Chelsea owner, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, watches his team play Liverpool. The oligarch is one of 110 people in Russia who comprise 35 per cent of its wealth. Moscow: A staggering 35 per cent of household wealth in Russia is owned by just 110 people, the highest level of inequality in the world barring a few small Caribbean islands, a report by a major investment bank says. By contrast, billionaires worldwide account for just one to two per cent of total wealth, Credit Suisse said in its report published on Wednesday. Russia has one billionaire for every $US11 billion ($11.6 billion) in wealth while in the rest of the world there is one for every $US170 billion. The fall of Communism saw Russia's most prized assets sold off to a small circle of businessmen later known as oligarchs. President Vladimir Putin allowed them to keep their wealth in exchange for their political loyalty. Vladimir Potanin, pictured on the right in this photo taken in 2000, is one of Russia's richest men. Photo: WAW Metals and banking tycoons Vladimir Potanin and Mikhail Fridman, who made their fortunes in the 90s, are still high on the list of Russia's richest men. But the past decade saw a rise of new billionaires who draw their wealth from state contracts. Some of them are known to be the presidents' friends, like Gennady Timchenko. Credit Suisse said that there were hopes with the demise of the Soviet Union that Russia would turn into a high skilled economy with fair wealth distribution but "this is almost a parody of what happened in practice." The 35 per cent of wealth that Russian billionaires own is equivalent to $US420 billion. Russian tycoon Mikhail Fridman, pictured here in 2008, is one of Russia's wealthiest billionaires. "Russia has the highest level of wealth inequality in the world, apart from small Caribbean nations with resident billionaires," the bank said in the report.