‘Civil’ of oligarchs in Russia – Who disagrees with Putin’s invasion

By Rachel Sandler

As US and Europe tighten sanctions on Russian billionaires – including promising to “hunt down their yachts and mansions”, oligarchs who made their fortunes through their loyalty to Vladimir Putin President at the expense of Ukraine.

No one directly mentions Putin, but public statements calling for peace are an unprecedented sign of disagreement with Russia’s authoritarian leader.

The Ukrainian origin Mikhail Fridman, founder of Alfa Bank – Russia’s largest private bank – was the first oligarch to speak – apparently unintentionally – against the Russian president’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the Financial Times. “I do not make political statements, I am a businessman with responsibilities to my thousands of employees in Russia and Ukraine. But I am convinced that war can never be the answer. This crisis will cost lives and hurt two nations that are brothers here. and hundreds of years, “he wrote in an e-mail to LetterOne’s private equity staff, which was later released. In the same e-mail, he referred to his personal story: Fridman lived in Western Ukraine until he was 17 years old. Both his parents are Ukrainian citizens living in Lviv, which he called “his favorite city”. Lviv is one of the cities targeted by Russian forces.

The European Union (EU) imposed sanctions on Fridman on Monday. Among other things, freezing of his assets and travel ban. His business partner, Alexey Kuzmichevstressed in an interview with the Russian edition of Forbes that he is writing with Fridman, but as he added: “I am not going to make statements on political issues.”

THE Oleg Deripaska, who made his fortune based on Russian raw materials and is the ex-boyfriend of Boris Yeltsin, also called for an end to the war in a Telegram post on Sunday calling for peace. “People are very important! Negotiations must start as soon as possible,” he wrote. On Monday, he described the rapidly deteriorating economic situation in Russia as a “real crisis” and called for greater economic reforms. “It is necessary to change the economic policy, to put an end to all this state capitalism,” he noted.

On Monday, the day he is sanctioned by the EU, Russia’s richest man, the “steel baron” Alexei Mordashov, described the clashes as a “tragedy of two brothers and sisters” and said that everything needed to be done to stop the bloodshed. “It is terrible that Ukrainians and Russians are being killed, people are suffering, the economy is collapsing. We must do what is necessary to find a way out of this conflict immediately and stop the bloodshed, to help the victims return to normal. life “, added the Russian tycoon.

“I have absolutely nothing to do with the current geopolitical tensions. I do not understand why sanctions have been imposed on us,” he added.

Other Russian billionaires have called for an end to the war in Ukraine. The billionaire Oleg Tinkov, founder of Tinkoff Bank, who is currently undergoing treatment for cancer, said that his health adventure showed him the fragility of human life. “Innocent people are dying in Ukraine right now, every day, it is unthinkable and unacceptable! States must spend money on treating people, on research to fight cancer and not on war,” he said.

THE Dmitry and Igor Bukhmanthe brothers behind Playrix, a video game development company that creates free games for mobile applications such as Homescapes and Fishdom, said they would give each of their 4,000 employees an extra paycheck and stressed that violence “could not never be the solution to a problem “.

“It is difficult to remain silent in the face of the current situation, what is happening is a great tragedy for everyone, including our company. It was hard to even imagine,” the Bukhman brothers said in a Facebook post.

THE Igor Rybakov, the billionaire co-owner of roofing and insulation company Technonicol, said on his YouTube channel last week that he understood that “the point of no return has been overcome and that a serious story is unfolding that will affect the lives of millions of people.” unpleasant “. At the same time, he told viewers not to panic and to buy undervalued securities of Russian companies. “All this irritates me. I want all this uncertainty to end,” he added, according to the Russian edition of Forbes.

The significance of these statements is great. It has been almost two decades since Putin’s critic and then Russia’s richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was jailed for alleged tax evasion after financing opposition parties, and his property was confiscated. (He denied all charges). Since then, few – if any – oligarchs have dared to oppose Putin. Khodorkovsky himself urges Russians to take to the streets, saying on Instagram that “the war against Ukraine must end by all means.”

We do not know if the aforementioned billionaires are sincere in their calls for a ceasefire or if this is their reaction to the impending sanctions and the dangers of a “free fall” economy.

But there are many who have not spoken yet. Roman Abramovich, the billionaire owner of the English football team Chelsea, who handed over the “management” (but not the ownership) of the team to a charity – a largely pointless gesture – has not taken a public position, but allegedly participated in peace talks in Belarus on Monday, after the Ukrainian government asked for his help. (His daughter, Sofia Abramovich, allegedly made an anti-war post on social media, according to British journalist Carole Cadwalladr). The rest of the dozens of Russian oligarchs, including several who were sanctioned by the EU on Monday, such as Facebook’s first investor Alisher Usmanov, are keeping quiet.

Read also:

* Russian billionaires have lost almost $ 90 billion amid an invasion of Ukraine

* How Putin helps oligarchs save their wealth