Not so rich. But still oligarchs.

The Guadian published an article titled Twilight of the oligarchs. Communism's collapse made Ambramovic and others multi-billionaires, but now Russian capitalism is in trouble. Can their colossal fortunes survive the downturn, or is this the end of an era?

Something strange is happening in Russia — the country that invented the word oligarch back in the 1990s to define a new kind of state-connected entrepreneur. In the new post-credit-crisis world everyone can concur on one thing — that Russia's oligarchs are in trouble.

Over the past five months, according to the financial news agency Bloomb erg, Russia's wealthiest 25 individuals have collectively lost $230bn (£146bn). Tycoons like Oleg Deripaska — Russia's richest man and friend, we now know, of British politicians — have seen their fortunes vaporised. On paper, Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea FC owner, has suffered a $20.3bn wipeout. Alisher Usmanov, the Arsenal shareholder-tycoon has lost $11.7bn, Bloomberg estimates.

Analysts say that private jets could soon be going for bargain basement prices, while some super-rich are scrambling to sell off their villas in Sardinia and Surrey. In Moscow, elite nightclubs have relaxed their strict entry rules — there aren't enough customers. The capital's top restaurants, meanwhile, have stopped accepting credit cards.

Not that Russia's oligarchs are in the mood for entertaining. Since hosting Peter Mandelson and George Osborne on his yacht in Corfu this August, Deripaska has slithered into a classic Westminster political scandal. The aluminium magnate's British-related woes do not stop there: a former business partner, Michael Cherney, is suing him for $4bn in the high court. Rumours suggest he's even been forced to lay off his servants. A spokesman said Deripaska does not comment on private matters.

Is, then, the era of the oligarch now over?

For a few, then, Russia's wild capitalist party isn't quite over yet. "I'm not worried about it. I have my husband to worry about that," said Tatyana Nekrasova, 24, her blond hair tied into a neat bun, as she emerged from Gucci clutching an 11,000-rouble shirt. She admitted, however: "I have a lot of friends who have investments. They've lost them. They're in a state of shock."

Paradoxically, Russia's often-surreal ride from communism to capitalism appears to be going full circle. Under Boris Yeltsin a small, favoured group of businessmen was allowed to acquire the country's newly privatised assets at auctions for a fraction of their real value. Last week Putin offered a $50bn state loan to Deripaska, and other cash-strapped oligarchs, struggling to pay back debts to the west. In effect, the Kremlin is poised to renationalise many of Russia's strategic industries.

Nobody is in any doubt as to what befalls oligarchs who disobey the Kremlin. In 2003 Putin arrested Russia's then richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and broke up his Yukos oil empire. Khodorkovsky was convicted of tax evasion; his real crime was to seek to influence politics and to challenge the president. The former tycoon is serving eight years in a Siberian jail and was recently placed in solitary for not sewing properly.