KIEV, Ukraine (JTA) — Three of the four billionaires from Ukraine are Jewish, according to the Forbes magazine annual billionaires list.
The highest ranking Jewish Ukrainian on the list, Victor Pinchuk, 48, a business tycoon and son-in-law of the former president of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma, slipped from 203 to 246.
Igor Kolomoysky, 47, a co-owner of the Privat business group with interests in metal and financial sectors also slipped, together with his business partner Gennady Bogolyubov, 47.
Ukraine Jewish leaders say the large number of Jews on the Forbes list has created a mixture of pride and anxiety in the Jewish community.
Jews make up approximately one half of 1 percent of Ukraine’s population of 46 million, and some Jews and experts fear the overrepresentation of Jews among the country’s business and political elite will strengthen anti-Semitic stereotypes.
The Ukrainian Jewish billionaires are from the industrial city Dnepropetrovsk. They are activists in and donors to the Ukrainian Jewish community.
Kolomoysky was elected last October as president of the United Jewish Community of Ukraine, an umbrella Jewish organization.
