In January 2018, hoping to shame those who had benefited from cozying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the U.S. released a document informally dubbed the oligarch list. Included were the names of 96 Russian tycoons with a net worth of $1 billion or more.
Two of those oligarchs bankroll the powerhouse Russian women’s basketball club that American Brittney Griner played for from 2015 until her arrest last month. Andrei Kozitsyn and Iskander Makhmudov, the co-founders of the mining company that sponsors UMMC Ekaterinburg, annually use their zinc and copper riches to assemble a roster stacked with WNBA All-Stars and top European talent.