More than $260 billion (£182 billion) has been wiped from the wealth of Russia’s billionaires over the past eight months as the credit crunch has sent the value of its currency and largest industrial groups plummeting, according to one of Russia’s largest private banks.

The meltdown in the private wealth of Russian oligarchs including Oleg Deripaska, Roman Abramovich and Alexei Mordashov reflected a 68 per cent slide in Moscow’s Micex share index since it peaked in May.

Andrei Sharonov, managing director of the banking group Troika Dialog and Russia’s former Deputy Minister of Economic Development, said that the oligarchs had suffered an unprecedented collapse in their wealth. Speaking on the sidelines in Davos he said a handful, including Mikhail Prokhorov, had managed to dodge the worst of the crisis. Mr Prokhorov sold his 25 per cent share in Norilsk Nickel for cash in April, just before the market’s collapse.

Yesterday Micex was trading at 622, down from a peak of 1,944 on May 19, 2008.

The rouble has fallen about 27 per cent over the same time. Mr Sharonov said: “In terms of public opinion these guys are not heroes so it’s not something that arouses much pity.”

The global credit crunch, war with Georgia and falling oil prices prompted foreign investors to pull $74 billion out of Russia at the end of last year.

But despite the lack of popular sympathy for Russia’s business elite, Mr Sharonov said the country was now facing a profound economic crisis, with soaring unemployment raising the spectre of social unrest this year.

“This situation is a very serious challenge to any government,” he said. “The mood of the population is not improving.”

Mr Sharonov’s comments came as Vladimir Putin, the Russian Prime Minister, addressed the Forum.

He said Russia had been “seriously affected” but claimed that its large foreign reserves, built up during the period of record oil prices, were providing some cushion. Russia’s foreign reserves now stand at about $400 billion, although they have plunged by nearly $200 billion since they hit a peak of $598 billion in August.

Mr Sharonov said that the country’s economic troubles could be compounded by the weak state of its energy sector.

The falling price of crude oil is undermining investment in the country’s oilfields, which in turn is likely to hamper future production and therefore tax revenues, he said.

However, he expressed his confidence in Russia’s economy in the long term and said Russian assets were now undervalued, which would eventually draw in fresh investment, while its large internal market was also an attractive long-term bet for foreign companies.

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