Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a regular visitor to Mallorca was Alexey Alexandrovich Mordashov, a Russian billionaire businessman, who loved nothing more than showing off his mega super yacht Nord in Mallorcan waters.
She is one of the biggest and most luxurious vessels afloat and her owner the main shareholder and chairman of Severstal, a Russian conglomerate with interests in metal, energy and mining companies. It is reported that Mordashov is Russia’s 4th richest person, with an estimated worth of $20.5 billion.
However, today, he was one of a group of Russia’s richest people to be given a lecture by President Putin who urged Russia’s billionaires to put patriotism before profit, telling them to invest at home to shore up the economy in the face of Western sanctions.
Addressing Russia’s business elite in person for the first time since the day he sent his troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year, Putin told them their role was not just to make money but to support society.
“A responsible entrepreneur is a real citizen of Russia, of his country, a citizen who understands and acts in its interests,” Putin said.
“He does not hide assets offshore, but registers companies here, in our country, and does not become dependent on foreign authorities.”
He hailed the “high mission” of entrepreneurs who looked after their workers and directed their talents not just towards extracting profit but also for the public good.
Billionaires Oleg Deripaska, Vladimir Potanin, Alexei Mordashov, German Khan, Viktor Vekselberg, Viktor Rashnikov, Andrei Melnichenko and Dmitry Mazepin - whose interests range from metals and banking to fertilisers - were among those in attendance at the gathering and many of them have popped up on their super yachts in Mallorca in the past - but not since war broke out and they have all been put on the international blacklist and yet to return fearing their super yachts will be seized as was the case with Tango in Palma by the FBI and United States Homeland Security department under the orders of President Biden.