I am also really surprised by number of russians. If you consider it with other BRIC countries (Brazil 3,India 2, China 1) then you have to believe something really strange is going on in russia
When the Soviet Union fell apart a whole load of state assets were privatized right into the hands of well-connected people for below market value [1].
Pretty easy to make money when you're handed a monopoly, at a deep discount.
Taking all the economic activity that was going on under communism and immediately privatizing it is probably bound to create a few fortunes no matter how you do it, but the way it ended up happening in Russia was needlessly corrupt.