Gennady Timchenko, the owner of Gunvor Group, one of the world's largest oil trading companies, has been ranked the richest businessman in Russia and the CIS by Russia's RBC business TV channel.

Timchenko - with a combined income of $24.61 billion in 2011 - topped the post-Soviet billionaires rating for the first time, because RBC previously did not have enough information to evaluate the value of Gunvor, his main asset.

Besides Netherlands-registered Gunvor Group, Timchenko owns 23 percent in Russia's largest independent gas producer Novatek and runs Volga Resources SICAV SIF S.A., a private investment fund.

Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, core owner of Metalloinvest, one of the country's largest metals producers, came in at second place with $19.7 billion, while Vladimir Lisin who owns at least 80 percent of NLMK, one of Russia's largest steelmakers, was third with an estimated worth of $18.76 billion.

According to a recent Forbes rating of Russian billionaires, Usmanov is in top place with $18.1 billion and Lisin second with $15.9 billion. Timchenko is at 99th position with capital at $9.1 billion.