Abramovich, 37, is governor of the Chukotka, a vast subarctic peninsula in Asian Russia's extreme northeast, looking on Alaska across the Bering Strait.
He has fabulous British-based property-the Chelsea football club, a posh Belgravia house, and an estate in west Sussex. Estimated at 7.5 billion pounds, or US$14 billion, his fortune is steadily increasing at 440 million pounds a year, and 50,000 pounds an hour. Proprietor of the Sibneft oil mammoth, he seldom leaves Britain and is known for anxiety to wind up his Russian-based business.
Making a debut in the Top Ten, Roman Abramovich elbowed out the Duke of Westminster, who had been steady on the list top with immovables estimated at five billion pounds.
Also on the Top Ten are Philip Green, with his retail chain, steel king Lakshmi Mittal, and Bernie Ecclestone of Formula 1.
Boris Berezovsky, with 1.8 billion pounds, ranks 14th. Sheltered by Britain as political emigre, Moscow is working stubbornly but to no avail to have him extradited.
