MOSCOW - AT MOSCOW'S Soho Rooms nightclub one recent night, bankers partied with abandon to a decadent theme: 'It's the end of the world.'

As Russia's stock market goes into freefall, the Kremlin struggles to shore up the ruble, and experts predict a wave of corporate bankruptcies, the party may be ending for Russia's super rich.

'The bell has started to ring,' said billionaire banker Alexander Lebedev.

Russia's oligarchs have acquired a reputation for flashy displays of wealth, overwhelmingly concentrated in Moscow, where Ostozhenka street's $3,738-per-square-foot residential real estate prices make it among the top six most expensive streets in the world.

The number of Russian billionaires has shot up by one third in just a year, from 53 in 2007 to 71 this year, according to the annual Forbes magazine ranking. Most made their fortunes in commodities - oil, steel, mining - that flourished in the age of easy credit and surging demand. But all signs point to a nasty economic hangover.

Russia's markets are estimated to have lost around US$800 billion since hitting highs back in May - with much of that loss coming in September.

The country is earning US$400 million (S$585.9 million) per day less from oil and gas than it was in early July, when it was raking in around US$1.3 billion, noted Uralsib strategist Chris Weafer.

Exclusive nightclubs, where a decent table can cost tens of thousands of dollars, look set for a hard hit.

A tour of trendy spots this past weekend by a casually-dressed AP reporter, who normally couldn't sneak pass face control, found uncrowded bars and empty VIP areas.

Fashionable clubs like Soho Rooms and Most - usually teeming with wealthy youth - echoed with the dance steps of the few who had bothered to turn up.

But many oligarchs and merely wealthy 'minigarchs' - like businessman Vladimir Pirozhkov - appear loathe to ditch their hedonistic habits.

'Financial institutions will be affected,' conceded Pirozhkov, sporting designer stubble, shouted over the pulsating beat at the fashionable downtown Denis Simachev bar.

'But on the other hand people will keep coming here. It's a very popular place, it's sort of a magnet of the city.'

Mr Lebedev appeared remarkably cool for a businessman who has lost around half of his estimated $3.1 billion wealth in the stock market plunge.

'I can only pin my hopes that what the people call a crisis will be a cold shower for a lot of hotheads in the Forbes list here,' said the 49-year-old, grey-haired Lebedev, perched on a couch in his Moscow office.

Mr Lebedev, ranked by Forbes as the world's 358th richest man, said he welcomes the financial pinch, which he said will help bring sanity to a city where a cup of coffee can put you back US$10, a glass of lousy wine at a good restaurant costs US$15 and a three-bedroom apartment in a modest central neighborhood costs US$10,000 a month.

All this in a country where the average monthly income is around US$700.

'If someone isn't able to buy a Bentley, or if some government bureaucrat has to sell his Gulfstream jet for US$50 million of his hardworking money ... that's a good thing,' said Mr Lebedev.

For the fabulously rich, the turmoil isn't cause for consternation just yet, said Mr Nikolai Uskov, editor-in-chief of GQ magazine's Russian language edition.

'The richest Russians will continue to consume huge amounts and they simply can't stop,' he said. 'If you want to buy new watches and you have the money, you'll keep buying them. I think they won't care about another euro10,000 or euro20,000 even during a crisis time.' -- AP