MOSCOW: The wives of two Russian regional governors and a State Duma lawmaker have topped the list of the richest spouses of the country’s state officials, earning hundreds of millions of rubles (millions of dollars) in officially declared income, the Forbes Russia magazine reported here the other day.
The list of the “richest wives of Russian functionaries” was topped by Olga Bogomaz, who is married to the acting governor of the Bryansk region, Alexander Bogomaz. Her income in 2014 — based on the latest tax declaration filed — reached 695.5 million rubles ($9.5 million), Forbes Russia reported.
The main source of Olga Bogomaz’s income comes from her agriculture company “Bogomaz,” which supplies much of the potatoes sold in the region’s stores, according to the report.
Her husband’s income in 2014 stood at 3.3 million rubles ($45,000), the report said.
Second place in the list went to the wife of Tula regional governor Vladimir Gruzdev, Olga, whose 2014 income declaration stated earnings of 619.5 million rubles.
A former fashion model, Olga Gruzdeva owned stakes at various times in large retail companies, including the “Seventh Continent” supermarket chain, “Fashion Continent” company, and FinService bank, Forbes Russia reported.
Olga Gruzdeva’s income was surpassed, however, by that of her husband, whose earnings totaled 1.1 billion rubles ($15 million) in 2014, the report said.
The third-richest wife on the list was Yekaterina Vainshtein, who is married to a State Duma deputy from the Liberal Democratic Party, Sergei Vainshtein. Yekaterina Vainshtein declared an income of 598.5 million rubles in 2014, while her husband declared earnings of 253 million rubles.
Much of Yekaterina Vainshtein’s 2014 income came from the sale for an undisclosed amount of “Dialysis Center” outfits in the city of Chelyabinsk to Germany’s B. Braun company in August that year, the report said.
The average salary in Russia stood at slightly more than 32,000 rubles per month, or about 385,000 rubles ($5,245) per year, in mid-2015, but 70 percent of employees earned less than that amount, according to official figures.
