Net Worth: $285 million

Age: 55

Marital status: Married, one son and one daughter

Last year: $1.7 billion

Industry: Coal mining, metallurgy, mass media

In 2000, the Center of Genealogical and Heraldic Research of the Ukrainian Institute of History published a book about Greeks in Ukraine. The most visible Greek in public life turned out to be Gennady Vasilev. In the facial features of the Donetsk entrepreneur it’s very difficult to discern traces of the ancient civilization. Nevertheless, you can say with certainty that the man at number 21 on the list of Ukraine’s richest is a Greek at heart. First, he is a long-time champion of Orthodoxy. Second, like an Ancient Greek, he has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. On leaving his post as chairman of the Derzhava party in 2006, he announced that he was leaving for the sake of science. Third, Vasilev counts among his shares offshore companies in Cyprus and Greece. It’s not important whether Vasilev is a Greek or not. He found his golden fleece in Ukraine. In this crisis year, Energo group, like an ancient titan, is continuing to grow its steel muscles by developing a electric steel-smelting complex at its metal factory in Donetsk. The technical reequipment of the plant will come to $800 million. A crazy investment considering the degree of the collapse of the economy and the value of Vasilev’s shares. But it’s not gods who made pots, as the ancient Greeks said.