opposition to aggressive war
Chubais, one of Putin’s confidants, fled abroad
03/23/2022, 2:59 p.m
The sworn unity in Russia is apparently cracking down to those close to President Putin. According to reports, Chubais, his longtime confidante, has left the country because he does not agree with the aggressive war in Ukraine.
According to an insider, Russian President Vladimir Putin is losing a veteran confidant: Former reformer Anatoly Chubais has resigned his post as Putin’s special envoy for relations with international organizations, an insider said. Chubais has already left the country and has no intention of returning. “Bloomberg” reports, with reference to two informed people, that the trigger was his resistance to the war of aggression in Ukraine.
Chubais is the most senior figure in Russia to have resigned from his post since the invasion of Ukraine a month ago, which in Russia’s official parlance is known as a “special military operation.” Chubais is considered the architect of the post-communist reforms in Russia in the 1990s. He also once led a liberal opposition party. He also headed the state technology company Rusnano.
Since the beginning of the war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia has also intensified its crackdown on critics within its own borders. A few days ago, in a speech broadcast on state television, Putin compared the critics and opponents of the war to “mosquitoes” and called them “traitors,” “scum” or “rabble.” Experts interpreted this as a sign that the unity behind the Kremlin chief’s expansion plans had long since cracked.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov made a similar statement afterwards, even speaking of a “cleansing” of Russia that would make a “special operation” possible. The word “war” for the stalled military offensive in the democratic neighboring country is now a punishable offense. “In such situations, many people turn out to be traitors and leave our lives of their own accord,” said Peskow. Putin had previously announced: “I am sure that such a real and necessary self-cleansing of society will only strengthen our country.”