Russian President Vladimir Putin has lost one of his closest associates. A man who stood by his political rise and was at his side in all subsequent years.
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The Kremlin has confirmed that Anatoly Borisovich Chubais, the creator of Russian privatization and one of the chief architects of the economic reforms of the 1990s, has resigned as special representative of the Kremlin at his own request.
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The state-run TASS agency said that in recent years, Chubais has held the post of Special Representative of the President of Russia for relations with international organizations to achieve the goals of sustainable development. “Yes, it’s true. Anatoly Borisovich is leaving this post, “a source close to the adviser confirmed to the agency.
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Other media, citing anonymous sources, write that Chubais justified his resignation by disapproving of Russia’s outbreak of war in Ukraine.
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Bloomberg recalls on its website that it is the highest-ranking official Russian official who broke with the Kremlin after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.
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Similarly, Reuters reported that Chubais was the most important figure to date, who resigned after Russia began what he called a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
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Chubais himself hung up after Reuters contacted him. It is not known where he is now. He allegedly left the country and does not intend to return.
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Russian diary Kommersant, owned by one of the richest Russians, Alisher Usmanov, published photos of a man remarkably similar to Chubais on his Telegram channel. It was taken in Istanbul, Turkey on March 22, standing in a hat and jacket at an ATM. Kommersant wrote about the film that he failed to verify whether he was really Putin’s now former adviser.
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Is that Anatoly Chubais? The film, which was published on the Telegram by Kommersant.
The Kremlin does not intend to comment. “He resigned of his own free will, and whether he left Russia or not is his business,” the RIA Novosti state agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.
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Chubais, 67, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia for President Boris Yeltsin, was one of the last Russian reformers of the 1990s to remain on the high echelons of Russian politics. At the turn of the millennium, he stood by the political rise of Vladimir Putin and held the highest positions in large state-owned companies during his presidency.
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At the end of 2020, he was appointed Special President for Relations with International Organizations to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals, TASS recalled.
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Since Russia started a war in Ukraine, the government has been increasing pressure on Russians to criticize the move. In a speech last week, Putin argued that Russia needed to be cleansed of the “mob” and “traitors.”
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