Top Kremlin official who quit over Putin’s invasion and flew abroad as conflict began ‘accuses Russian leader of ‘big mistakes’ and plunging the country into an ‘impossible’ war’
- Accusations by Anatoly Chubais, former Kremlin chief of staff and ex Russian PM
The most senior Kremlin official who quit over Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine has accused the dictator of making ‘big mistakes’.
Anatoly Chubais – a former Kremlin chief of staff, and ex-Russian deputy prime minister – accused him of plunging his country into an ‘impossible’ war.
While he resigned and flew abroad as the war began, he refrained from publicly criticising his former boss, but now his views of failure Putin are clear.
‘I considered this war impossible,’ he said in newly leaked messages on a Telegram channel.
‘I completely overestimated Putin’s professionalism, unfortunately.’
Anatoly Chubais (right, pictured with Putin last year) – a former Kremlin chief of staff, and ex-Russian deputy prime minister – accused him of plunging his country into an ‘impossible’ war
While he resigned and flew abroad as the war began, he refrained from publicly criticising his former boss, but now his views of failure Putin are clear
The war, which has killed hundreds of thousands, was the decision of ‘one person’ – Putin (left), said Chubais (right), 68, in a leaked text exchange with his Russian business friend Yuri Koropachinsky
The war, which has killed hundreds of thousands, was the decision of ‘one person’ – Putin, said Chubais, 68, in a leaked text exchange with his Russian business friend Yuri Koropachinsky.
READ MORE: Pictured: First top Kremlin official to quit over Ukraine war is in hospital partially paralysed and unable to close his eyes
He accused Putin of turning his Russian foes into morons, blotting out all opposition.
Putin was a ‘big man’ who had made ‘big mistakes’, he said.
He treated politics as ‘above the criminal law and often above common sense’.
Chubais – who has homes in Britain and Israel – quit as Putin’s climate envoy but was earlier the key figure in dismantling and privatising industry after the fall of the USSR.
‘Moronising your opponent is the most common mistake in politics,’ he said of Putin.
Koropachinsky said Putin was an example of the saying that ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’.
There were claims Chubais feared for his life when he quit, and last year he was hospitalised amid a poisoning scare, but his family said he had a rare medical condition.
He served as head of Russia’s state-owned electrical power monopoly and later was in charge of nanotechnology under Putin.
Some Russian commentators believe Chubais – Kremlin chief of staff to Russia’s first president Boris Yeltsin – is plotting a way forward for his country after Putin leaves the stage in the coming years.
There were claims Chubais feared for his life when he quit, and last year he was hospitalised (pictured) amid a poisoning scare, but his family said he had a rare medical condition
Some Russian commentators believe Chubais – Kremlin chief of staff to Russia’s first president Boris Yeltsin – is plotting a way forward for his country after Putin leaves the stage in the coming years
While he is pro-western, he fears an immediate switch to a fully democratic government – because it would be voted out in elections, and possibly replaced by a new Putin-style demagogue.
READ MORE: Putin ‘to strip passports of citizens who criticise Russia’s war with Ukraine’
He wants Western-style economic reforms to rescue Russia’s economy, it is reported.
The information was in a leak to VChK- OGPU Telegram channel which has links to law enforcement. The channel did not say how the private exchange was obtained.
It comes as Russian state investigators are moving to probe exiled Chubais over financial dealings when he was in charge of the nanotechnology state corporation.
It has also been revealed that 4,500 have renounced their Russian citizenship so far this year – more than last year.
It takes the number of Russian refuseniks to 8,700 since the start of Putin’s war.
Among the list are six billionaires, reported The Moscow Times.
They include the founder of Tinkoff Bank, Oleg Tinkov, who denounced Putin’s ‘crazy war’.
‘I can’t and won’t be associated with a fascist country, that started a war with their peaceful neighbour and killing innocent people daily,’ he said. ‘It is a shame for me to continue to hold this passport.’
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