Russian climate envoy Anatoly Chubais (66), known for being close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has resigned.
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Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov has confirmed to Russian news agency RIA Novosti that Chubais has quit his job.
He himself has chosen to leave the post, according to Peskov.
Chubais is Russia’s highest-ranking official who has broken with the Putin regime since the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, according to Financial Times..
The Ukraine war is said to have been the 66-year-old’s motive for withdrawing. Anonymous sources confirm to the news agency Reuters and Bloombergwho first announced the departure, that Tsjubais resigned in protest.
According to several Russian media, including the news agency TASS, Chubais is said to have left Russia. The newspaper Kommersant claims he is in Turkey with his wife.
Chubais has no plans to return to Russia, according to one of Reuters’ two sources.
–Maintained ties to the West
The climate adviser is known to be one of the few reformers in the 1990s who remained in Putin’s government and who maintained close ties with Western officials, according to Reuters and Bloomberg.
Chubais was among the main architects behind Russia’s privatization in the 1990s and according to Large Norwegian encyclopedia he was responsible for the planning and implementation of the privatization of state property.
According to Bloomberg, he was also the one who gave Putin his first job in the mid-1990s, and was initially positive about Putin’s path to power.
During Putin’s presidency, Chubais has held several top jobs for several state-owned companies, before Putin last year appointed him climate envoy.
Putin is tightening his grip
Russian authorities have cracked down on criticism of Putin’s “military special operation,” which is the term Russia uses for the war in Ukraine.
Anyone who spreads “false information” about military actions in Ukraine risk up to 15 years in prison and large fines.
Putin claims that the operation in Ukraine is necessary, among other things, because NATO’s enlargement to the east is a threat to Russia.
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