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Russians flock with money to London

Russian billionaires, and mere megamillionaires, are dropping tens of millions of dollars for the most opulent houses in London. Jewelry stores and outrageously expensive boutiques are hiring Russian-speaking staff. Many trace the phenomenon to the day in 2003 when Roman Abramovich, a Russian oil tycoon in his mid-thirties, bought the Chelsea soccer club for $225 million, then paid out hundreds of millions more to assemble a star-studded juggernaut that won the English championship for the first time in 50 years.

No one knows exactly how many Russians live in London. The embassy and city officials estimate there are about 200,000, but others say the number could be much higher. What is known is that the numbers have skyrocketed since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Russian civic associations, newspapers and magazines, art exhibits and stores are increasingly common. Last January, more than 50,000 people turned out for the first Russian Winter Festival in Trafalgar Square.

Anyone who is anyone in Moscow is here," said Marina Starkova, director of Red Square, a London-based public relations and event-planning company catering to wealthy Russians. Not everyone in Russia is so keen on the flight of billions of dollars to London. Much of the new wealth was accumulated at the expense of the state, when oil, gas and other natural resource industries were sold to private investors in often politically motivated deals. Some Russians have wryly noted that Karl Marx, who is buried in London, must not be resting peacefully.