Russia’s marquee billionaires are investing to upgrade America’s steel industry. Today more then 10% of all US steel production is Russian owned.

The same group of billionaires modernized the decrepit steel industry in Russia who have been investing in the US. They made many acquisitions during the boom period from 2003 to 2008 when the soaring ruble made US assets look cheap In turn they were hit by the the recession, and now are ramping up their modernization efforts as prospects for autos and construction improve. The cast of characters couldn’t be richer or more colorful.

Since 2003, three big Russian steel producers have paid over $9 billion for US manufacturers and poured billions more into improving rundown plants. All three are run by one of the dozen wealthiest Russians: Severstal, Russia’s largest steel producer, headed by Alexei Mordashov (#2), Evraz, controlled by Roman Abromovich (#3), and NMLK, headed by Vladimir Lisin, whose net worth of $16 billion gets him only to (#12).

The first big deal was Severstal’s purchase of the legendary Rouge plant in Dearborn, Michigan, for decades the captive steel producer for Ford, and still a big Ford supplier. Severstal has invested over $1 billion to upgrade the plant. Severstal also built a plant from scratch in Columbus, Mississippi called SeverCorr in partnership with former Nucor CEO John Correnti— it is an entirely new and ultra-modern facility.

In 2008, Evraz purchased Oregon Steel in Portland for $2.3 million, marking the largest U.S. acquisition ever by a Russian company. It invested over $400 million in upgrading the plant. NMNK is now spending $2.2 billion to modernize Beta Steel, a Michigan tubing manufacturer. Lisin bought Beta, in part, to export its mini-mill technology to his plants in Russia.

Unfortunately Russians bought a number of plants that even they could not fix. Severstal is trying to sell three that were just too rundown to save, including Sparrow’s Point, a former Bethlehem Steel mill in Baltimore. They’ve also run into political flak: MMK, controlled by still another billionaire, Viktor Rashnikov, planned to build a new plant in Ohio before rival steelmakers in the state, and the recession, killed the project.