Deripaska’s statements to reporters are a rare public challenge to the Kremlin’s war rhetoric.
The Russian tycoon of aluminum Oleg Deripaska He said on Tuesday that there would be no winner from Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and that Russia was paying the price for its actions.
Deripaska’s statements to reporters are a rare public challenge to the Kremlin’s rationale for war by one of Russia’s richest men. However, he was careful, and avoided making a personal reference to the president Vladimir Putin.
“I’m concerned about how quickly we abandoned everything that was achieved (financially) in the 1990s, then abandoned everything we achieved in the 2000s, and now we are sitting and waiting for victory. Whose victory? Whose victory? ” Deripaska wondered.
“I think the destruction of Ukraine would be a colossal mistake for us too “, he added.
The increase in prosperity is linked to the development of Russia’s private sector and building ties with the rest of Europe as Russia’s main economic partner, he said.
But it is “obvious” that Western sanctions are now affecting Russia more than Europe, said Deripaska, founder of Russian aluminum giant Rusal.
His claim runs counter to Putin’s argument that sanctions have repeatedly hit Western economies, causing higher inflation in decades, and that Russia will emerge stronger and more self-sufficient.
Deripaska himself, who has been sanctioned by the United States, Britain and the European Union, said, however, that he had underestimated how stable Russia’s economy would prove to be.
The Russian tycoon also sees no threat to her political leadership.
“There is no possibility of change regime in Russia. “The opposition preferred the beautiful European views and withdrew from the life of the country,” Deripaska said.
Many of the opposition leaders, especially those associated with jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, have fled to European countries to avoid persecution.
Deripaska, 54, is one of a group of businessmen known as oligarchs who control large sectors of the economy, especially energy and goods, and who have managed to protect their assets on the condition that they they stayed away from politics.
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