Russians got richer last year, even with the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, while the US and Europe lost trillions of dollars, according to Business Insider. According to the Swiss bank UBS, Russia added $600 billion to its wealth. At the same time, the United States lost more wealth last year than any other country – $5.9 trillion, and North America and Europe combined became poorer by $10.9 trillion.

Russia is more than a gas station

By the end of 2022, there were 1 million fewer American millionaires, although the US still accounts for more than 50% of all wealthy people in the world. Meanwhile, Russia’s wealth growth came despite a special operation in Ukraine in February of this year that led to the imposition of Western sanctions against the Kremlin, followed by a contraction of the country’s economy and a drop in stock prices in Moscow.

The Swiss bank acknowledges that wealth trends in Russia are now difficult to determine, but at the same time notes that Russia has become one of the few countries in the world that have become richer in 2022. One of the factors in the growth of prosperity may be the rise in oil prices, the export of which is one of the main engines of the Russian economy, the newspaper notes. According to Refinitiv, the cost of a barrel of benchmark Urals oil rose by about $7 last year. Mexico, India and Brazil also saw massive increases in wealth in 2022, the UBS report said, while the US, Japan, China, Canada and Australia lost the most, Business Insider concludes.

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