Tabloid Drama in Newly Rich Russia, "Gilded Youth" May Be Paris Hiltons Russian Federation

Back in October, Roman Abramovich was "categorically denying" any reports that his wife had taken steps to divorce him. It was reportedly a trick being played on him by a gossip newspaper, that any word of divorce was being spread. Newspapers gobbled it up, though, and as the richest man in Russia, and number 11 in the world as far as wealth was concerned, it made good press.

Some papers speculated that he could part with over five billion dollars - that's right, billion. Rumor had it that British lawyers nicknamed "jaws" and "Mr Payout" had been engaged, and, if worse came to worst, his wife might secure a billion as his penance for his alleged dalliances with the model daughter of another Russian Elite industrialist, nearly half his age.

Mr. Abramovich and his wife have been active in modern Russian society, with a newspaper picture showing him with her at an Elton John concert in St. Petersburg several years ago as an illustration. Mr. Abramovich reportedly met model/student Daria Zukhova, 23, at a gathering in France, and she lives in London, where her father owns an exclusive housing block and she is studying at a naturopathy college. One of her father's many houses is a well-guarded mansion in Rublovka, the most exclusive residential area of Moscow.

While news of the apparent divorce brought huge figures to the headlines as a British divorce seemed in the works, recent reports say that the Abramoviches have reached a Russian settlement, where he would be likely to do much better. Most of the headlines in Britain these days surrounding the divorce concern the British soccer team Chelsea, which Abramovich paid 140 million pounds for in 2003, and which reports say, to much fan relief, would not be affected by the settlement.