Russians slide down UK billionaires list as Ukraine crisis bites

LONDON, May 10 (Reuters) - Russia's Alisher Usmanov has lost

his spot as the richest man in Britain, according to the Sunday

Times, as the crisis in Ukraine wiped billions of pounds off the

bank balances of Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs.

The Indian-born, London-based brothers Sri and Gopi Hinduja,

who run the global automotive, banking and investment Hinduja

Group, have climbed to the top of the list as Britain's

wealthiest pair, valued at 11.9 billion pounds ($20 billion).

Usmanov, ranked as Russia's richest man by Forbes, lost 2.7

billion pounds over the last year as he fell to second place on

the Sunday Times Magazine's list of billionaires in Britain.

Britain has more billionaires per head of population than

any other country, according to the Sunday Times, which put the

combined wealth of the 104 billionaires on its list at 301

billion pounds, up over 50 billion pounds since 2013.

Philip Beresford, who compiles the annual table, said the

Russian and Ukrainians at the top of the list had seen their

wealth dented by the intervention in Ukraine. That led to the

rouble falling to an all-time low and Russian stocks tumbling.

"The malaise of the Russian economy and the current crisis

has had its effect on them all," said Beresford.

Ukrainian-American Len Blavatnik, who owns international

record label Warner Music, and Roman Abramovich, the owner of

Chelsea soccer club, together lost nearly 1.8 billion pounds in

the last twelve months.

Western countries have responded to Russia's annexation of

Ukraine's Crimea region by imposing limited sanctions against

Moscow, targeting some Russian political and business leaders

and interests seen as involved in the Ukraine crisis.

LONDON CALLING

The majority of billionaires on the Sunday Times' list were

born abroad, reflecting the draw of London, in particular, to

elite international investors.

Soaring property values in London, where many of Britain's

richest people invested as prices bottomed out during the

recession, helped boost the overall wealth of the elite group,

which surpassed 100 entries for the first time, according to the

report's author.

Beresford said defining 'Britishness' was one of the hardest

tasks and the list included people with strong business

interests in Britain and who spent "quite a lot of their time"

in the country.

In a sign that the top of British society is benefiting from

the economic recovery, the level of wealth required to enter the

top 50 on the list, 1.7 billion pounds, beat the pre-recession

2008 figure for the first time.

1 3 Sri and Gopi Hinduja £11.9bn + £1.3bn

2 1 Alisher Usmanov £10.65bn - £2.65bn

3 4 Lakshmi Mittal and family £10.25bn + £250m

4 2 Len Blavatnik £10bn - £1bn

5 9 Ernesto and Kirsty £9.75bn + £2.35bn

Bertarelli

6 6 John Fredriksen and family £9.25bn + £450m

7 7 David and Simon Reuben £9bn + £719m

8 12 Kirsten and Jorn Rausing £8.8bn + £3.691bn

9 5 Roman Abramovich £8.52bn - £780m

10 8 The Duke of Westminster £8.5bn + £700m

11 11 Galen, Hilary and George £7.3bn + £650m

Weston and family

12 10 Charlene de £6.365bn - £635m

Carvalho-Heineken (Other OTC: HEINY - news) and

Michel de Carvalho

13 15 Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber £6.16bn + £1.645bn

and family

14 new Carrie and Francois £6.14bn new

Perrodo and family

15 new German Khan £6.08bn new

16 31 Sir David and Sir £6bn + £3.65bn

Frederick Barclay

17 13 Hans Rausing and family £5.9bn + £1.18bn

18 17 Nicky Oppenheimer and £4.57bn + £785m

family

19 18 Earl Cadogan and family £4.2bn + £525m

20 14 Joseph Lau and family £4.03bn - £570m

21 16 Sir Philip and Lady Green £3.88bn No change

22 20 Denis O'Brien £3.854bn + £486m

23 32= Mike Ashley £3.75bn + £1.45bn

24 19 Sir Richard Branson and £3.6bn + £86m

family

25 new Idan Ofer £3.4bn new

($1 = 0.5938 British Pounds)

(Reporting By Costas Pitas; Editing by Sophie Hares)