$310-Million in Gifts Make Abramovich Top Russian Donor

Oil oligarch and soccer-club owner Roman Abramovich is the most charitable of Russia’s biggest billionaires, giving away $310-million in the past three years, writes Bloomberg.

The news service, which reviewed giving from 2010 through 2012 by Russia’s 15 richest citizens, said the chief beneficiary of Mr. Abramovich’s largesse is the Chukotka region near Alaska, where the owner of London’s Chelsea soccer team formerly served as governor. Since 1999 he has spent $2.5-billion on hospitals, infrastructure, and schools in the region.

Edward Mermelstein, a lawyer who has advised billionaire Viktor Vekselberg on charity work, said that in recent years ultra-rich Russians have started paying more attention “to what they can do to make this world a better place. In the past, charitable giving was done more for vanity, but today we see some serious philanthropists.”