Oligarchs lose 46% to ruble’s wreckage

Russian billionaires are losing it — their vast wealth, that is.

The collapse of Russia’s currency, sparked by plummeting energy prices, has erased $47.7 billion in wealth from eight of the richest tycoons in the country in 2014.

That’s a 46 percent hit to their bottom line, according to Bloomberg’s billionaire index.

The illfated eight make up nearly onethird of the 25 biggestlosing billionaires in the world.

That’s not a surprise given that the Russian ruble has fallen by more than 50 percent against the dollar this year — as the price of oil has slid by the same amount.

The biggest Russian loser is energy mogul Leonid Mikhelson, 59, who has lost $8.7 billion, or 56 percent of his net worth this year. He’s now down to his last $9.2 billion of net worth.

Mikhelson is the top shareholder of naturalgas producer Novatek, which was hit with Ukraine invasionrelated US sanctions that banned lending to the company in July.

Mikhelson and his fellow hardhit Russian pals got a bit of relief on Wednesday as the ruble jumped 14 percent after the country’s central bank promised to lend money to the country’s struggling banks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inability to halt the longterm slide in the ruble, and to stem the financial bleeding of his wealthy supporters, could weaken his standing.

In addition to the currency slide, Russians are facing a 2015 recession, continued sanctions from the US and other western nations — and empty ATMs.