Russia's influential banker and industrialist Vladimir Potanin has replaced tycoon-turned-politician Boris Berezovsky as the richest Russian. The Forbes magazine in its latest issue, included Russia's five prominnent businessmen in its list of the 200 entrepreneurs with assets over $1.5 billion. Berezovsky has not only lost the much-coveted position to his arch-foe Potanin, but also finds himself the poorest among the five Russians in the world's rich men's club. The five richest Russians who made it into the Forbes' elite list are Potanin, Rem Vyakhirev, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Vagit Alekperov and Berezovsky in that order.

Potanin, former vice-premier in the Viktor Chernomyrdin government, has made phenomenal fortunes after his successful bidding last year for Svyazinvest, Russia's giant state telecommunications company. He is a friend of President Boris Yeltsin's closest allies and influentialreformers Anatoly Chubais and Boris Nemtsov. His business interests include Uneximbank, metal producer Norilsk Nickel and Sidanko oil holding. His assets have risen from $700 million in 1997 to $1.6 billion in 1998. Forbes also listed Potanin in the ``world's top 10 smartest businessmen'' category.

As chairman of the Uneximbank, Potanin has recently aggressively invested in the Russian media market to effectively counter the political clout of his rival media mogul Berezovsky. Uneximbank owns significant stakes in the Komsomolskaya Pravda and Izvestia dailies. Last year, Potanin started a new daily Russky Telegraf.

Vyakhirev, Alekperov and Khodorkovsky occupy important places among Russia's top financial oligarchs, who earlier this month attended a meeting called by Yeltsin to consider ways to solve the current financial crisis. Vyakhirev who is the chairman of Russia's oil monopoly Gazprom, saw an increase in his net assets from $1.1 billion in 1997 to $1.4 billion in 1998.Yukos chairman Khodorkovsky's net worth fell from $2.4 billion to $1.3 billion in the same period. LUKoil president Alekperov's assets fell from $1.4 billion last year to $1.2 billion this year.

But it is Berezovsky who has seen the most striking fall in his fortunes this year. Last year he was the first Russian business tycoon whom Forbes included in its list of the world's richest men. The magazine had estimated his fortunes at $3 billion in 1997. But in 1998, it listed Berezovsky as being worth $1.1 billion, relegating him to the ``we're rich too'' category.

Meanwhile, in keeping with Yeltsin's decree, the Kremlin has issued a list of top officials, declaring their income. The announcement comes after the recent proclamation by Yeltsin's new tax chief Boris Fyodorov that he was preparing a plan to target Russia's 1,000 top rich and famous individuals in an effort to boost tax collection.

Yeltsin's income was also published in the government-controlled newspaper Rossiskaya Gazeta alongwith the incomes of Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko and his Cabinet. According to the report Yeltsin earned about $325,000 in 1997, seven times more than in 1996. Kiriyenko earned about $125,000 last year. However, the highest income among those listed is not Yeltsin's but that of the Fuel and Energy Minister, Sergei Generalov, who made an income of about $735,000 last year.